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Californians to turn their clocks back Sunday despite support for permanent DST
(The Center Square) – Back in 2018, Californians overwhelmingly voted in favor of a ballot proposition giving state lawmakers power to end the biannual changing of clocks. But this weekend, Californians will still set the clock back an hour on Sunday as daylight saving time ends.
Proposition 7 authorized state lawmakers to change the dates and times of the daylight saving time period or adopt daylight saving time as the permanent year-round standard, so long as it complied with federal law. Lawmakers were also authorized to adopt permanent Standard time through a two-thirds vote under Proposition 7.
Despite overwhelming support from voters, lawmakers have yet to successfully pass a measure instating permanent DST in the Golden State. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been attempts.
In 2019, former Assemblymember Kansen Chu introduced Assembly Bill 7, which would have enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time in California. The Legislature did not pass it.
More recently, Assemblymember Steven Choi introduced a similar bill earlier this year to implement permanent daylight saving time in California. The bill passed through two committees but ultimately died on the Assembly floor in May after several lawmakers abstained from voting.
Mr. Choi told The Center Square that he introduced the bill because he thought it was “about time for us to implement the will of the Californians that passed Proposition 7.”
Mr. Choi, who is running for reelection in Assembly District 73 on the November ballot, said he has no plans at this time to reintroduce a similar measure in the next Legislative session. But, he said “if I survive [the election] and return, we’ll see what interests may approach me.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent in 2023, but the bill has yet to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. If it makes it through the House, it will head to President Joe Biden to sign.
For now, Californians will still turn their clock back one hour this Sunday at 2 a.m.
The post Californians to turn their clocks back Sunday despite support for permanent DST appeared first on Santa Barbara News-Press.