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 “Changing our clocks twice per year is an outdated, unnecessary process based on energy policy that is over 100 years old.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.

Rep. Delus Johnson Introduces Missouri Jobs for Education Act

Legislation introduced by state Rep. Delus Johnson, R- St. Joseph, would encourage job creation by providing employers with tuition credits for any Missouri public institution of higher learning. The Missouri Jobs for Education Act (HB 1728) would deposit the withholding tax for a newly-created job into the Missouri Jobs for Education Fund. Businesses could then claim the credit for their employees or family members, or they could gift the credit as a scholarship. Johnson said the goal of the bill is to both spark job creation and to help more Missourians achieve the goal of obtaining a college degree.



“My hope is the bill will give an additional incentive for job creation while also providing the financial assistance that will encourage more and more Missourians to attend a university, college or technical school,” said Johnson. “As we try to pull our state out of this sluggish economy, it is critical that we create good-paying jobs for our citizens and that we find ways to make our citizens educated and capable as a workforce. My bill is one piece of the puzzle that will help us to do that.”



In order to qualify for the credit, Johnson’s bill would require employers to create jobs that pay wages that meet or exceed the county average. The jobs would have to be maintained for at least one year before the employer is eligible to redeem the credit. Johnson said his bill would allow an employer to redeem a credit equal to the amount withheld for employment tax. He said for a job paying the average Missouri salary of $41,050, the amount of the credit would be $1,477. An employer creating ten jobs at the average wage could redeem a credit of $14,770 after one year. The tuition credit could never exceed the amount contributed by the employer.



Johnson’s bill now awaits assignment to committee for further discussion.