In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Californians (and most of the rest of the country) will have to move their clocks one hour forward, starting eight months of daylight saving time. The change means we get to experience more daylight later in the day, but the sudden hour of lost sleep can be jarring for some people 鈥� and can , experts say.
Didn鈥檛 Californians vote on this issue? Yes, sort of, but it isn鈥檛 quite that simple.
In November 2018, voters overwhelmingly passed . But the measure only allowed the Legislature to change daylight saving time, either by establishing it year-round or abolishing it.
A change still requires a two-thirds majority of both the state Assembly and Senate and the governor鈥檚 signature. Permanently keeping daylight saving time also 鈥� and that hasn鈥檛 happened.
California doesn鈥檛 have to wait on Congress to use standard time, which is what Hawaii and most of Arizona do.
So this year Republican Sen. of Roseville to do away with daylight saving time for good and . (Westminster Republican is carrying in the Assembly.)
Arguing that standard time makes 鈥渢he most sense,鈥� Niello says his bill has the backing of the California Medical Association. A large portion of the and communities also agree that standard time coincides better with people鈥檚 natural clocks.
In its , the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst鈥檚 Office said continuing to switch between time standards potentially affected 鈥渨orker productivity and the number of accidents.鈥�
But California lawmakers can鈥檛 quite agree what standard we should stick with. In 2021, then-Assemblymember proposed a measure to (which, again, would still be contingent on changing federal law). The bill died before it reached the Senate.
Even now with Niello鈥檚 bill, for year-round daylight saving time 鈥� not standard time.
Niello, however, says that last fall, lawmakers from Oregon and Washington reached out to him about making standard time permanent, saying that it would be a 鈥済ood idea鈥� for the West Coast to align their clocks. There are also similar bills in Idaho and Utah.
And while Niello recognizes that not everybody shares his preference for standard time, at least more could agree with doing away with changing clocks altogether.
鈥淚 have become increasingly tired of making the switch myself on a personal basis,鈥� he said.
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