Local // Bay Area & State

Prop. 7: California considers end of changing clocks for daylight-saving time

Imagine never losing an hour of sleep in the spring or an hour of sunlight on cold winter evenings. Imagine never having to change the clocks. Life is full of trade-offs, but forgoing the semiannual time change has become a enticing idea for some.

A proposition on the ballot in November would allow California to decide whether to repeal the Daylight Saving Time Act of 1949, which requires clocks to be set forward by an hour every spring and fall back an hour every autumn.

If the voters approve Proposition 7, the Legislature could then clear the way by a two-thirds vote of both houses for the state to adopt full-time standard time, similar to Hawaii and Arizona. Final approval would require congressional dispensation.

Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, first introduced the idea in 2016 with AB807, which passed the Legislature and was then signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 28 to send Prop. 7 to the November ballot.

“We are hoping to be able to increase the public health and increase the public safety and allow kids to play outdoor sports and improve their well-beings a little bit,” Chu said. “It’s a movement we are trying to lead other states and other countries in.”

The time shift would allow children to spend more time outside in the sunlight during winter time and encourage people to eat out more, which could be an economic boon for local businesses, Chu argued.

Additionally, heart attacks and workplace injuries could be reduced by not having to struggle with getting up an hour earlier in the spring, Chu said, citing a 2009 study by Michigan State University.

But not everyone agrees with the benefits outlined by Chu.

“It doesn’t change the amount of light,” said Severin Borenstein, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. “All it does is change the naming of the hours. We aren’t changing the rotation of the Earth.”

Having an extra hour of darkness every morning in the winter, he added, could cause more commuting problems and pedestrian accidents.

California isn’t the only state considering changing daylight-saving time. Florida’s Legislature implemented a similar bill in July, but it has been on hold since then and is still waiting for congressional approval.

Altering a state’s daylight-savings protocol could impact coordination with the rest of the country and cause a major disruption, argue opponents of Prop 7.

“There is no evidence that this is going to make people better off, and I think that unless there’s really an overwhelming argument, making a change like this and getting out of sync with other states and creating all the disruption is not a good idea,” Borenstein said.
