California Year-round Daylight Savings Time Delayed

SAN JOSE, CA — The clock has stopped temporarily for California to enact permanent daylight saving time.

The San Jose Democratic legislator who made it a priority issue in Sacramento by introducing a bill to maintain the one-time change in Dec. 3, 2018 has shelved the plan to spring forward on a full-year schedule.

California Assemblyman Kansen Chu, whose 25th district encompasses Fremont to the north south to San Martin, elected to buy more time to get feedback from his constituents.

Existing state law establishes the standard and daylight saving times to begin each March and end in November. The daylight saving time this year concludes Nov. 3 at 2 a.m. The law allows the state to set the standard time to daylight saving time year-round, if federal law authorizes the state to do so. This requires an act of Congress, beyond the two-thirds vote in the California Legislature.

AB 7 would set California’s standard time to year-round daylight saving time after the federal government authorizes the state to do so, as specified. It would take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

"This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect," the bill's language reads.

It's long been a complaint by many Californians that switching the clocks back and forth wreaks havoc on internal body clocks among the citizenry. When a weary working Californian is forced to go back an hour in fall, the loss of an hour of snoozing may be detrimental in a day and age when sleep deprivation runs so rampant even under normal circumstances. Therefore, the bill's necessity cites health concerns such as heart attacks, strokes, workplace injuries and traffic collisions as reasons to maintain the status quo when the calendar moves forward.

"We have in the past told people as Daylight Saving Time changes to be aware because people tend to drive drowsy," said California Highway Patrol Art Montiel, the spokesman for the Redwood City office.

The reasons also include an economic one.

As it is, the federal government already moved to make daylight saving time last longer as the intent was to have the citizenry out and about for the better part of the afternoon into evening. Energy efficiency became a factor.

Most regions of the United States observe daylight saving time except Arizona on non-tribal lands, Hawaii and the overseas territories of Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"I want to clarify that AB 7 is not dead and will be moving forward in January. My main goal will always be to stop the practice of switching back and forth, and I am dedicated to make this a reality," Chu's Chief of Staff Annie Pham said in a statement from the assemblyman. "As this is an issue that impacts all Californians, I want to take the next few months to ask my constituents their thoughts on permanent daylight saving time vs. permanent standard time. It is important to me that my constituents are heard, and putting a pause on moving the bill will give me the opportunity to do more outreach."