A bill was introduced in the Oregon legislature that (if passed) would end daylight saving time, the state of Washington is considering a similar bill

SALEM, Ore. — The ritual of springing forward and falling back - and spending days (or longer) catching up on adjusting every clock in the home - is being questioned by lawmakers who would like to see it come to an end.

Some are considering a renewed effort to put the state in line with Hawaii and Arizona, the only two states that have exercised their privilege to stay on standard time all year long.

Daylight saving time was instituted to give people an extra hour of sunlight in the spring and summer evenings - something that was originally thought to save energy.

Some see the change as antiquated, and find that losing the hour isn't worth the hassle.

Senate Bill 99 would let Oregon voters decide if the state should recognize daylight saving time.

Washington lawmakers saw a similar bill introduced this year, which would put the state on Pacific Standard Time year-round.

"What I'm suggesting is that we save time by simplifying our lives," state Washington Rep. Elizabeth Scott.

She said the bill to drop daylight saving time would reduce heart attacks, car wrecks and work accidents found to increase with the sleep-schedule disruptions. Farmers she checked with already run their combines at night using aircraft-scale headlights, and dairy cattle care about the sun, not the time on the clock face.

But if only one state or the other decides to ditch daylight saving time, that could make a mess for commuters, and there are thousands of them, that go back and forth between Oregona and Washington everyday.

"Yeah, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it", says Wayne Bush, who's playing golf at Heron lakes in North Portland.

"Your watch says one time, you come across the river, it's another time. It seems like either everybody should do it across the country, or nobody should do it."

In the pro shop at Heron Lakes they admit it could mean some missed tee times.

But the extra hour of daylight is a money-maker they'd rather not give up.

"More daylight, more tee times, just more golf," says markerting director Kylen Trevor.

"That's really what we're about, is giving people the chance to play our two beautiful golf courses."

Bills to get rid of daylight saving time have come up before, they do almost every session, but never get very far, usually die in committee.

Even if the bills do go through, it's not likely that Washington and Oregon will go separate ways on daylight or no daylight.

Oregon's daylight saving options could go to voters this November, but may take years until it takes effect.

Or it could happen right away, depending on what Washington and California do.

There's going to be a public hearing on Oregon's SB 99 at 3 p.m. Tuesday in Hearing Room C in Salem.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J A bill was introduced in the Oregon legislature that (if passed) would end daylight saving time, the state of Washington is considering a similar bill via top scoring links : news http://ift.tt/1NJxkUQ

Put the internet to work for you.

Delete or edit this Recipe