Daylight saving time under fire again in Utah legislature
Jan 16, 2025, 6:00 PM
FILE - Electric Time Co. employee Walter Rodriguez cleans the face of an 84-inch Wegman clock at the plant in Medfield, Mass. Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008. Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the days warm into summer. There's been plenty of debate over the practice but about 70 countries — about 40 percent of those across the globe — currently use what Americans call daylight saving time. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers are once again looking at nixing daylight saving time.
Utah representative Joseph Elison said every year when the clocks change, lawmakers are flooded with calls. Calls from their constituents asking for an end to daylight saving time. He estimates about 80% of Utahns are sick of the switch-over.
“The vast majority of Utahns are just tired of moving their clocks,” Elison said. “They don’t care which way we go. Just stop moving the clocks.”
His bill would keep Utah’s clocks on standard time until something else is decided on the federal level.
Related: Daylight saving time or standard time? Sleep doctor weighs in on which is better year-round
“And then if the federal government decides to go to daylight saving time, we would then move with the rest of the country,” Elison explained. “But in the meantime, we would go to standard time so we could stop moving our clocks.”
Why should we drop daylight saving time?
A big reason people are opposed to the time change is because of how it impacts sleep and health. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has taken a stance that the abrupt transition to a new time poses a public safety risk. It said it contributes to cardiovascular events, mood disorders, and motor vehicle crashes.
“There’s been a lot of studies about the time changes and it’s not healthy for our bodies,” Elison said. “Especially for children going to school, it’s hard for their bodies to adjust during the next week or so after we move the clocks.”
Related: Daylight saving and its impact on health
Elison said that even though this plan has been shot down for years, it might finally pass this time. It now has public support from people like President-elect Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk. Elison believes he has widespread support for this legislation in the state house of representatives, but it could possibly face opposition within the state senate.
He encourages Utahns to contact their state senators if they are interested in seeing this bill passed into law.
