Seattle, WA – A Washington state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would scrap the twice-yearly time switches required by daylight savings time and see the West Coast state join Arizona and Hawaii in sticking to one standard time.
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Representative Elizabeth Scott, a Republican from Monroe, told a House committee on Tuesday that switching the clocks is inconvenient, even in the age of self-adjusting smartphones, and that some studies have shown they can lead to serious health problems and drops in worker productivity.
“There is a 10 percent increase in heart attacks on the Monday after the spring forward, when we lose an hour of sleep,” she said in an interview. “Another study showed a correlation between clock shifts and traffic accidents.”
Washington state changes to daylight saving time from the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November and is on standard time for the remainder of the year, like most of the rest of the United States.
Hawaii and Arizona shun daylight savings time and there is legislation pending in a handful of other states, including Alaska, Scott said.
Scott’s proposal, introduced to committee last month, has not had a vote. If enacted it would take effect on Jan. 16.
“You can’t tell your puppy he’s going to be fed an hour differently tonight. Dairy cows need to be milked at the same time every day,” she said.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Eric
Seems like just the sort of thing the states ought to handle for themselves.
Losing an hour of sleep CAN do that. In fact, starting off very slowly upon awakening and then speeding up is always highly recommended for just that reason.