I’ve spent some time the last couple of days contacting all of the sponsoring legislators of bills relating to Daylight Saving Time and time zones in the US. This included:
- Alaska Senators Anna MacKinnon and Bill Wielechowski, sponsors of SB 6 and SB 11, respectively.
- Mississippi Senator Russell Jolly, sponsor of SB 2180.
- Oregon Senator Kim Thatcher, sponsor of SB 99.
- Texas Representatives Dan Flynn and James White, sponsors of HB 150 and HB 363, respectively.
- Utah Senator Aaron Osmond, sponsor of Senate Concurrent Resolution SCR 1.
- Washington State Representative Joe Schmick, sponsor of Washington Joint Memorial HJM 4001.
In addition, I’ve contacted US Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake to ask their current opinions on modifying 15 USC Subsection IX “Standard Time”. This section of US Code allows states to opt out of Daylight Saving Time or adopt DST with its twice-yearly time transitions, but it does not permit states to adopt “Year-Round DST”. Legislation in Washington state will ask the President and Congress to modify US Code to allow Year-Round DST, while Mississippi legislation proposes to adopt Year-Round DST with no mention of the apparent conflict with US law in doing so. In addition, Utah legislators are proposing to both abolish DST and adopt Central Standard Time, which would have the same effect as remaining on Mountain Standard Time and adopting Year-Round DST.
And finally, I’ve written to Adonna Valpando of the Department of Transportation. US DOT is responsible for oversight of Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time.
If you know of other state legislators considering legislation regarding DST or time zones, please contact me at Update@TimeZoneReport.com.