If one thing is more certain than death and taxes, it is the twice-yearly changing of the clocks. And if one thing is as certain as bills to cut taxes at the Utah Legislature, it is the constant introduction of measures that would keep Beehive State residents from fiddling with those clocks — measures that ultimately change nothing, especially the hands of time.
At the risk of sounding like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, this time could be different.
The reason is simple. The tug-of-war between daylight saving and standard times has caught the attention of Donald Trump.
At the risk of sounding like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, this time could be different.
The reason is simple. The tug-of-war between daylight saving and standard times has caught the attention of Donald Trump.
"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation," Trump wrote on X last month.
If you’re tired of the springing forward and jumping back, this may come as good news.
The bad news, however, is that Trump has made a lot of promises and statements. It’s unclear how far down the pile this one is. Can it surface before March?
And the worse news is he posted almost the exact same thing in 2019.
Even more bad news: This isn’t something that can be done with an executive order. Of course, that doesn’t mean the president won’t try, but his reference to the “Republican Party” and “best efforts” indicates this will be left to Congress.
Meanwhile, another bill has been introduced at the Utah Legislature. This one, HB120, would make standard time, the one we’re on now, permanent. Utah doesn’t need any dominos to fall before making that happen. Arizona and Hawaii have already done this. Any state can, so long as they don’t mind confusing their neighbors.
But a lot of people would rather make standard time permanent, instead, and that does require an act of Congress. Former Florida Senator and newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio got such a bill through the Senate in 2022, but the House has deflected numerous attempts to hear it.
"It's time to lock the clock," Rubio’s office said in a news release last October. Catchy rhymes can be a sign of desperation. But that was before Trump got onboard.
Last March, Utah congresswoman Celeste Maloy introduced the Daylight Act, which would do the same thing. “Americans are tired of springing forward and losing sleep and falling back and losing sunlight,” she said in a news release.
Indeed, a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll published in 2022 found 71% in favor of establishing a permanent time.
Which one — daylight or standard — may not be so easy to decide.
Utah lawmakers can’t be accused of not trying to solve this through the years. They passed a law in 2020 making daylight saving permanent here, but only if at least four other Western states did the same and something similar to Rubio’s bill passed.
But HB120 doesn’t rely on any of that.
It also just passed out of the House Government Operations Committee with a unanimous vote.
The sponsor, Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville, told the committee he doesn’t care whether the state goes to daylight saving or standard time permanently. He just wants people to stop moving their clocks.
Referring to Trump’s tweet, he said, “It is becoming a national narrative again. So our timing is kind of perfect right now.”
He was opposed at the hearing by the Golf Alliance for Utah, whose executive director, Ryan Peterson, said the sport is an economic engine for Utah, and its players prefer the long summer nights daylight saving provides.
Also, Elison has yet to get a Senate sponsor for his bill.
All those worries would go away if Congress approved year-round daylight saving.
As usual, the “ifs” loom large.
I would say we could dream about the day the clocks are locked for good, but this isn’t an issue that lends itself to sleep.
If you’re tired of the springing forward and jumping back, this may come as good news.
The bad news, however, is that Trump has made a lot of promises and statements. It’s unclear how far down the pile this one is. Can it surface before March?
And the worse news is he posted almost the exact same thing in 2019.
Even more bad news: This isn’t something that can be done with an executive order. Of course, that doesn’t mean the president won’t try, but his reference to the “Republican Party” and “best efforts” indicates this will be left to Congress.
Meanwhile, another bill has been introduced at the Utah Legislature. This one, HB120, would make standard time, the one we’re on now, permanent. Utah doesn’t need any dominos to fall before making that happen. Arizona and Hawaii have already done this. Any state can, so long as they don’t mind confusing their neighbors.
But a lot of people would rather make standard time permanent, instead, and that does require an act of Congress. Former Florida Senator and newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio got such a bill through the Senate in 2022, but the House has deflected numerous attempts to hear it.
"It's time to lock the clock," Rubio’s office said in a news release last October. Catchy rhymes can be a sign of desperation. But that was before Trump got onboard.
Last March, Utah congresswoman Celeste Maloy introduced the Daylight Act, which would do the same thing. “Americans are tired of springing forward and losing sleep and falling back and losing sunlight,” she said in a news release.
Indeed, a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll published in 2022 found 71% in favor of establishing a permanent time.
Which one — daylight or standard — may not be so easy to decide.
Utah lawmakers can’t be accused of not trying to solve this through the years. They passed a law in 2020 making daylight saving permanent here, but only if at least four other Western states did the same and something similar to Rubio’s bill passed.
But HB120 doesn’t rely on any of that.
It also just passed out of the House Government Operations Committee with a unanimous vote.
The sponsor, Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville, told the committee he doesn’t care whether the state goes to daylight saving or standard time permanently. He just wants people to stop moving their clocks.
Referring to Trump’s tweet, he said, “It is becoming a national narrative again. So our timing is kind of perfect right now.”
He was opposed at the hearing by the Golf Alliance for Utah, whose executive director, Ryan Peterson, said the sport is an economic engine for Utah, and its players prefer the long summer nights daylight saving provides.
Also, Elison has yet to get a Senate sponsor for his bill.
All those worries would go away if Congress approved year-round daylight saving.
As usual, the “ifs” loom large.
I would say we could dream about the day the clocks are locked for good, but this isn’t an issue that lends itself to sleep.
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