Bid to End Daylight Saving Time in California Fizzles

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — A bill to give Californians the opportunity to vote out daylight saving time and eliminate the biannual clock resetting stalled Tuesday, falling four votes short of clearing the state Senate.

Despite being passed unanimously in May by the lower house, Assembly Bill 385 couldn't sway enough support from lawmakers and will likely be shelved by its authors for the year.

A bipartisan mix of senators shot the proposal down, arguing that farmers are used to the time changes while others questioned the wisdom of being four hours behind the East Coast for a portion of the year.

State Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, explained his affinity for daylight-saving time more frankly: "I just like it," he said.

The proposal by Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, would have left the decision to scrap daylight saving time to voters in a statewide election. California voters approved switching to the time standard in 1949 in pursuit of improved worker safety and reducing crime.

Chu has argued that resetting clocks twice per year causes unintended health effects and pointed to studies showing traffic accidents increase after a time change.

"California should be leading this change," Chu said in May. "I cannot believe that anybody would like to do this fall backward, spring forward thing twice a year."

Tuesday's vote was an unusual bipartisan result for California politics, with 10 Democrats and seven Republicans voting against AB 385.

State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, opposed the bill, saying he was worried about the "unintended consequences" of a uniform time standard in California.

The Senate voted unanimously, however, to let Chu bring the bill up for a reconsideration vote before the Aug. 31 legislative deadline if he chooses.

If the bill were to pass the Legislature and win voter approval, the federal government would still have to approve California's time change.

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