Iowa lawmaker making another run at ending time change disruptions

DES MOINES — An Iowa House member is taking another shot at ending the chore of resetting clocks and disrupting Iowans’ lives by establishing daylight saving times as the official time throughout the year in the state.

“I hear it all the time,” Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, said Thursday at a State Government subcommittee hearing on House File 2105. “People like the bill. I get emails from moms dealing with their children, especially in the spring. That’s when it hits the fan. I hear it from schoolteachers. It disrupts a little kids’ lives for a week or two.”

The daylight saving time period runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

This is the third or fourth time Sexton has offered similar legislation and says he’s seeing more interest each time.

“There’s a lot more interest in the (Republican) caucus this year, so I hope we can get it off the House floor,” he said.

He’s not alone, however, because in the last four years, 19 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time if Congress were to allow such a change or, in some cases, if surrounding states enact the same legislation.

Because federal law does not currently allow full-time daylight saving time, Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes. And that’s the challenge, Sexton said.

“We’re waiting for Congress. Who know how long it will be before Congress decides to allow us to do it,” he said.

Current federal law prohibits states from enacting daylight saving time permanently, but does allow states to instead stay on standard time with the passage of state legislation as Arizona, Hawaii and most U.S. territories have done.

Sticking to standard time seems to be a non-starter because Iowans would have to change their routines to take advantage of the daylight, Sexton said.

There was no opposition voiced at the hearing on HF 2105. Brad Epperly, representing the Iowa Broadcaster’s Association, said his clients “don’t necessarily care what time Iowa is on, they just want to make sure we’re all on the same time” to avoid problems with programming and scheduling. He suggested Iowa make the change contingent on contiguous states making the same change. Minnesota has enacted daylight saving time legislation and, like Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois have legislation pending. Proposal in the Dakotas and Wisconsin have failed.

Craig Patterson, a multiclient lobbyist, said he grew up in Arizona where daylight saving time was not observed.

“This whole switching clocks, I can’t stand it and a lot of Iowans feel the same,” he said.

The bill now goes to the full State Government Committee. Again.

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