It might be one of the more popular bills Alabama lawmakers consider this spring: Make daylight saving time permanent.
“I hear more about this than any topic back at home from the people who want it,” said state Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Good Hope.
Said Rep. Ritchie Whorton, R-Owens Cross Roads, “It would not be dark (soon) after 4 o’clock and it would give you extra time. A lot of my folks want that.”
Legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent in Alabama might move out of the Legislature during the waning days of session. But even if it is signed into law by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, there are no guarantees the measure will see the light of day.
Congress has the final say on whether to end the biannual time shifts that occur each year from March to November. Daylight saving time begins each year on the second Sunday in March when clocks are set forward by one hour. They are then turned back to standard time on the first Sunday of November.
“This is hoping that once Congress does pass it, we’ll be a step ahead,” said state Rep. Neil Rafferty, D-Birmingham.
In the last four years, 15 states have enacted legislation or passed a resolution to provide for year-round daylight savings time if Congress allowed such a change, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Last year, seven states enacted similar legislation including Georgia and Louisiana.
The measure in Alabama was approved by the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee on Wednesday and advances to the full House for a vote. The Alabama Senate has already approved it.
Despite the committee’s support, there was some confusion among committee members over whether an endorsement for permanent daylight saving in one state could alter the current time zone alignment.
State Rep. Rhonda Hollis, D-Birmingham, said if there was a lack of uniformity of supporting the change, it could place Alabama and Georgia in the same time zone. Georgia is currently one hour ahead of Alabama because it falls on the western edges of the Eastern time zone, while Alabama is within the Central time zone.
“If it’s done state by state, and one state does not (approve of the permanent change) then does it affect the time zone?” Hollis asked.
Georgia lawmakers passed legislation last year that is similar to the current Alabama proposal.
Whorton, though, said nothing will change unless Congress acts. A resolution in the U.S. House called the “Sunshine Protection Act of 2021” would make daylight saving time permanent and would end a 103-year run of it occurring for only eight months.
Daylight saving time was first enacted in 1918, as a way to conserve coal. It was again officially recognized nationally in 1966.
Daylight savings time was expanded to its current form in 2007. From 1987-2006, it began on the first Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October.
Proponents for a permanent time change believe there are health effects that also come into play with switching sleep schedules.
At least one Alabama-based expert believes the shift should occur to standard time, not daylight saving time.
Dr. Karen Gamble, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurobiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said there is a lot of documented evidence that the week or days after the annual “spring forward” to daylight saving time is “wrong with negative events” that includes more traffic crashes, reduced work performance and an increase in health risks like heart attacks and shortened sleep.
She cited a research paper from Society for Research in Biological Rhythm that argues in support of a closer alignment between the social clock – set by people that includes work and school schedules – and the body clock which is set by the rising and setting sun.
“When we have social/work/school requirements that are mismatched with a natural body clock, our health is at stake and accidents are more likely to happen,” Gamble said.
Gamble said by staying on standard time all year, the sun would rise at 4:38 a.m. on June 21 – the summer solstice, or the longest day of the year – and set around 7 p.m. (it running rises at 5:38 a.m. and sets at 8:01 p.m.).
“With the longer day lengths in the summer, our bodies more easily shift with the natural seasonal cycles of the sunrise and sunset,” said Gamble. “The short days of winter are the most challenge for our body clocks to adjust to. So if given a choice of matching our clocks (social/work clocks) to the easiest versus most difficult time of the year, our health would benefit the most from staying on standard time in the winter and not shifting to daylight savings in the spring.”
Gamble said that Alabama is a unique case because of its location “just inside the Central Time Zone.” She said in Chattanooga, Tennessee – the western edge of the Eastern Time Zone -- the sunrise occurs around 8 a.m. during the month of December.
“In junior high, I distinctly remember waiting in the complete darkness every morning in the winter, waiting for my school bus to pick me up,” said Gamble, who grew up in Chattanooga. “It was not fun.”
She added, “The farther west you live within a time zone, the more likely you are to have health problems and have a shorter lifespan. As a parent, I definitely do not want my teenage son driving early in the morning in the dark to get to school, especially considering that the adolescent body clock naturally shifts with puberty, continuing this delay all the way into early adulthood.”
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April 29, 2021 at 01:06AM
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Spring forward, forever: Alabama lawmakers advance permanent daylight saving time - AL.com
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