It’s official- The House of Representatives has given the green light to a bill letting Utah dump daylight savings. After a week of paused debate, the Utah house continued to debate the topic of everyone’s favorite time of the year (not)! HB120 was passed with a 52-23 vote that Wednesday afternoon. Based on recent comments from top leaders in the Senate, the bill, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville, could be facing an uphill battle. Elison’s bill would be fighting to keep Utah on standard time year-round until federal law changes and allows Utah to observe daylight time.
Ellison says, “The purpose of this bill is simply this — that the citizens of the state of Utah for years upon years upon years have been asking this body to stop our clocks from moving backward and forward twice per year,”
While many do want to be rid of this time change, some argue otherwise, saying they were not enthusiastic about losing an hour of daylight in the summer, and fearing how this would change things like summer and spring sports.
“People do not want to change the clocks — that is until they find out what they’re changing, what we’re committing to, is not having that extra hour,” said Rep. Clint Okerlund, R-Sandy.
“I’m afraid of what this does for our spring sports and our fall sports throughout our state,” added Rep. Tom Peterson, R-Brigham City. “I will vote for this, but I’m extremely nervous about what happens when we actually implement this.”
Others, such as Rep. Mark Strong, fear that their lawns will unfortunately face dire consequences. “If we pass this bill,” Strong said, smiling, “my yard is going to dilapidate and fall into disrepair.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, spoke in favor of the bill, arguing that the time change every spring and fall can have dramatic effects on people with special needs who struggle to adjust to the changing clocks. “One of the reasons that I continue to serve is because I have a daughter with very, very special needs,” he said. “She doesn’t understand what this bill is about, but the one thing that she understands is when we change the clocks twice a year, it messes her schedule up, and it sometimes takes weeks to adjust.” He said the “health” and “logistical benefits make so much more sense to just keep it consistent.” For many people, daylight savings is a chaotic time and takes a bit of time to readjust to. Those with rigid routine habits and schedules find it especially hard to adapt to the time change.
In 2020, the Utah Legislature passed a law that would put the Beehive State on year-round mountain daylight time if the U.S. Congress approved it and if at least four Western states agreed to do the same thing. So far, that hasn’t happened. Elison argued his bill is the only thing lawmakers can do to stop the switching of clocks twice a year.
“I’ve heard people say this bill is such a waste of time — no pun intended,” Elison said. “I think people know exactly what this means. I think people have been living this for decades.”
But HB120 could face a tough road ahead in the Utah Senate, which rejected a similar bill in 2022. Senate GOP leaders, including President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, have expressed some reluctance on a few occasions to debate this issue once again. The legislative session is said to run through March 7.
There are many who support the idea of this bill and think there could be some positive benefits, while Concerns include impacts on sports and daily routines; Senate approval remains uncertain, but are we perhaps preparing to say goodbye to daylight savings?
