Bill To End Daylight Savings Time In California Proposed by Assemblyman Ta

Assemblyman Tri Ta (R-Westminster)  announced on Monday that he will be putting forth a new bill this coming year to end daylight savings in California.

While calls to end daylight savings time have popped up for decades, it wasn’t until the late 2010s when a massive push both in the United States and California to stop the practice began forming. In 2018, Californian voters passed Proposition 7 by a nearly 60%-40% margin. Under Prop 7, the California State Legislature is allowed to change the dates and times of the daylight saving time (DST) period, by a two-thirds vote, including establishing permanent, year-round standard time or permanent, year-round DST, as long as federal law is changed to allow for permanent DST.

In 2022, AB 2868 was introduced to make DST year-round within the state. However, the bill soon fizzled out in an Assembly vote followed passage in two committees because of a massive bloc of Democrats and Republicans opting to simply not vote on it. As AB 2868 needed 2/3rds of the legislative vote to pass, it died only a few months after being introduced.

Meanwhile in Washington, a Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) backed bill to make daylights savings time permanent nationwide made the rounds in the Capitol. The bill, also known as the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023, has made it far in the Senate, reaching a committee. However, in the House, the bill has only yet been referred to a subcommittee, meaning that the Washington effort has largely been slow going.

Following another time change this past weekend, Assemblyman Ta announced on Monday that he would be leading the next effort to eliminate twice-yearly time changes in California. While the bill has yet to be formally written up, Ta said in a statement on Monday that, if passed, this measure would keep California on year-round standard time. Ta specifically noted that he wrote the bill because of the mental health and behavioral changes that time changes bring, as well increases in car accidents and other tied-in problems.

A second attempt following passage of Prop 7

“Changing clocks twice a year is not only frustrating, but it’s dangerous for drivers and contributes to our state’s mental and physical health crises every year,” said Assemblyman Ta on Monday. “When voters passed Proposition 7 overwhelmingly in 2018, they did not expect the Legislature to stall the will of the voters by refusing to take up this important measure. This legislation makes good on a promise that California voters decided on long before I was in office. It’s been 5 years, and now that I’m here in Sacramento, I’m going to hold government accountable and take action.”

Dr Andrew Binder, a member of the Board of Directors of the California Sleep Society, added that “I applaud Assemblyman Tri Ta for introducing this legislation. Children and teenagers are especially impacted by the disruption caused by time changes. Our natural sleep rhythms and internal clocks are best suited for year-round standard time and after the passage of Proposition 7, now is the time for the Legislature to act. I urge Assemblyman Ta’s colleagues in the Legislature to follow the science and join him in passing this important bill so Californians can lead healthier lives.”

However, experts who have been trying to eliminate time change for decades noted to the Globe on Tuesday that any legislation for change would be hard to get passed.

“California isn’t the only state that has tried and failed to do this,” said Andrew Schmidt, an advocate who has helped organizational efforts in multiple states to stop the practice for over a decade. “Outside of Arizona and Hawaii, which don’t have DST to begin with, getting other states to change their minds is an uphill effort. People argue for more daylight to help reduce accidents, but people counter back on it saving energy. That’s why President Ford in the 70s brought standard time back for four months out of the year.

“There is a lot of good in just eliminating those two days Americans hate the most each year, but there can never be a consensus on this it seems like. We have made progress the last several years, with California surprisingly being one of the leading states trying to change it. But as we’ve seen, everyone needs to be on board, and right now, not everyone is.”

The new bill, set to be unveiled either later this year or early next year, will need a 2/3rds majority from both houses. If passed and signed into law, California would eliminate time changes starting in 2025.