Lawmakers hope "Spring-forward Sunday" will be the last

When Sunday morning strikes, North Idahoans will follow the time-honored tradition of setting their clocks forward an hour, commemorating the policy that has become known as Daylight Saving. But lawmakers both here and in our nation’s capital hope this year’s ritual will be our last.

“I would hope it’s our last,” Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, told the Coeur d’Alene Press Friday. “Last year, when my bill was out in the public, I got a lot of communication from people about it, and almost all of them were for this idea.”

Specifically, Vick’s 2020 bill called for the northern half of Idaho that follows Pacific Time — its line of demarcation, for reference, somewhere around Riggins — to make Daylight Saving permanent. Vick’s rationale was that North Idaho, notoriously cut off from the south, has its economic interests more closely tied to Spokane than, say, Boise. Keeping time with Washington state makes more sense for locals, he reasoned.

The rest of Idaho agreed. SB 1267 easily cleared both the Idaho Senate and House before being signed into law one year ago Wednesday (give or take an hour). But that law — which, as an interesting byproduct, means all of Idaho would keep the same time four months out of the year — comes with a few strings, none of which have yet been pulled.

String No. 1: North Idaho will celebrate Daylight Saving Time year-round, but only if Washington elects to follow suit. The good news is, Washington voted last year to permanent Daylight Saving, as well, but only if …

String No. 2: Oregon must also follow permanent Daylight Saving. This makes sense, as Washington and Oregon are conveniently located right next to one another on the same longitude, with both states firmly grounded in the Pacific Time Zone. The good news for Daylight Saving enthusiasts is that Oregon passed a similar bill in 2019 to permanent Daylight Saving, with one little catch …

String No. 3: California must agree, as well. Oregon’s law is contingent on California going to Daylight Saving year-round, too, something the Golden State voters resoundingly approved back in 2018 with Proposition 7.

But such a move in California requires a two-thirds approval by the state’s assembly, proposition or no. Given that one of its most vocal proponents is no longer serving in the California assembly, and given that more pressing needs have climbed up the ladder of importance — we're looking at you, COVID-19 — there hasn’t been a big push in California to put the state of our clocks up for a vote.

Not that it would necessarily matter, because …

String No. 4: The feds have to sign on. Fun fact: Any state can opt out of Daylight Saving, but to opt in, states must receive permission from the federal government. Specifically, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 vests that responsibility to the Department of Transportation, which oversees interstate commerce. States must petition the DOT for permission to opt in. To their credit, the DOT has stated it won’t put up much of an objection should states like Idaho synchronize their watches and state their cases.

But all those strings might end up getting snipped anyway. On Tuesday, a legion of Congressmen-and-women in Washington, D.C., formed a wall of support for the Sunshine Protection Act, a bi-partisan (talk about turning back the clock) piece of legislation that makes Daylight Saving Time the all-year standard, with no setting of time required.

“In a year that feels like it’s been in complete darkness, [we] have provided a solution to provide more sunlight by making Daylight Saving Time permanent,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, said Tuesday.

Marco Rubio agreed. “The call to end the antiquated practice of clock-changing is gaining momentum throughout the nation,” the Republican senator from Florida said. “Studies have shown many benefits of a year-round Daylight Saving Time, which is why the Florida Legislature voted to make it permanent in 2018.”

Those benefits, most recently illustrated in a study by the University of Texas, include decreased risks of heart attacks, some cancers and memory loss. The study noted four specific cancers — stomach, liver, prostate and non-Hodgkins lymphoma — steadfastly increase the closer we get to the western edges of time zones.

“While there is still a lot of uncharted territory in the field of circadian rhythms and sleep medicine, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that ‘spring-forward, fall-back’ is not the best choice for the 21st century,” said Dr. Joseph Takahashi, chair of Neuroscience at the University of Texas-Southwestern.

Similar studies show car accidents, sleep disorders and depression have all been attributed to the changing of the clocks. These are among the many reasons Vick said abolishing the time change is long-overdue.

“I would hope this is the last year we have to do this,” Vick said. “I have been in contact with our Congressional delegation. It’s up to them, at this point.”

Daylight Saving Time officially begins at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.