Tuesday, March 19, 2013

House Committee Approves Legislation Sponsored by State Rep. Delus Johnson to Extend Daylight Saving Time

The biannual ritual of changing your clock in accordance with the start and end of daylight saving time would be a thing of the past if State Rep. Delus Johnson has his way. Johnson is pushing legislation that would make daylight saving time the year-round standard in Missouri. His legislation (HB 340) was approved this week in the House Committee on Emerging Issues in Agriculture by a 9-3 vote.

Johnson’s bill would establish the Daylight Saving as New Standard Time Pact that would consist of Missouri and any other state desiring to observe daylight saving throughout the entire year.

The legislation also makes it clear that the change would only go into effect when at least 20 states have passed legislation entering those states into the pact. At that time, each state would switch clocks forward to daylight saving for the last time and never set their clocks back again. Daylight saving would then become the new standard time.

“This is a change that would allow farmers to work later into the evening earlier and later in the year. It would promote tourism by allowing more outdoor activity later in the day during the Spring & Fall months. It would also promote economic development because shoppers tend to shop more during daylight hours,” said Johnson, R- St. Joseph. “Changing our clocks twice per year is an outdated, unnecessary process based on energy policy that is over 100 years old. I’m hopeful we can pass my bill this year which allows Missouri to take the lead on this common sense change.”

Johnson’s bill now moves to the House Rules Committee for approval before moving to the House floor for discussion.

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