Utahns may not like it, but they’re going to have to keep moving their clocks back and forth twice a year after the Utah Senate killed a bill that would have stopped Utah from moving clocks forward in the spring.
Stopping the clock shuffle has been a perennial issue on Capitol Hill, and in 2020 the Legislature passed a bill that would adopt permanent daylight savings — keeping clocks an hour ahead — but only if the four other Western states do the same and Congress acts to allow the change.
But Congress hasn’t acted on the issue. Toquerville Republican Rep Joseph Elison’s HB120 would have quit the waiting and kept Utah on standard time. The bill passed the House 52-23 earlier this month.
Members of the Senate Business and Labor Committee weren’t willing to have Utah be a renegade on the issue, though, and are content to wait on federal action.
“We are a peculiar people,” said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, “but I don’t know if we want to be extra peculiar with our international airport and surrounding states standing out with a different time zone.”
By a tally of 7-1, the senators voted to essentially kill the bill for this session.
“I don’t think this is going away … I think it’s going to be coming back over and over until we do something,” Elison said. “Bottom line is we can let this thing die … and punt the ball to the federal government and hope they take the lead. I’d rather take the lead in Utah, personally.”
Polls have shown that Utahns don’t like springing forward and falling back, but there is disagreement on whether the state should stick with the earlier or later time. And research has shown there are advantages and disadvantages to either scenario.
Stacy Muhelstein, a mother from Monticello, testified before the committee that the time changes are especially hard on her child who has autism, disrupting sleep schedules and prompting him to act out.
But representatives of the Utah Homebuilders Association, Utah Recreation and Parks Association, Utah Farm Bureau and Utah Golf Alliance all opposed the bill, arguing that sticking with standard time in the summer months would mean construction crews would work in hotter weather, sporting events would need to be shuffled and farm workers would lose a useful hour of daylight.
Sen. Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, expressed frustration that Congress has not acted to adopt a uniform standard but said, with a new administration in Washington, he is hoping that the federal government will finally settle on a permanent time.
