OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washingtonians have made it known - they're completely over springing forward in March and rolling the clock back in November each year.
However, a years-long quest to get the federal government to approve the will of Washington voters and opt into permanent daylight saving time has gone nowhere. Despite the state legislature passing the law in 2019, it cannot go into effect without the approval of Congress, which has consistently failed to bring the issue to a full vote.
In a new effort to side-step the federal approval process, 13 Washington senators are co-sponsoring a bill to opt into permanent pacific standard time, which the state could do without the go-ahead from Congress.
The bill, authored by Sen. Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley), cites research showing negative impacts on public health increase each time the state moves forward or falls back by an hour. The switch also "increases traffic accidents and crime, disrupts agriculture scheduling and hinders economic growth," according to the bill text.
Under the uniform time act, the state is allowed to opt out of daylight saving time with approval from the state legislature, a move that Arizona, Hawaii and U.S. territories like American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have already made.
Padden is working together with Oregon state legislator Sen. Kim Thatcher, who will introduce a similar bill for her state in 2024.
Should it pass, the bill would go into effect on Nov. 4 of this year - when daylight saving time ends.