Time to ‘fall back,’ set your clocks; legislative moves on DST

Daylight Saving Time ends | Stock Image, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Despite a widespread Facebook hoax several weeks ago, Saturday is the night to set your clocks back one hour as standard time resumes at 2 a.m. Sunday.

In the first week of October, a post was spread on Facebook that claimed you should “… set your clock ahead one hour next Sunday.” No date and no identifying information was given, but quite a few Facebook users reposted the misleading graphic. How many Facebook users actually did what the post said is anybody’s guess.

The hoax was easily debunked with the saying “Spring forward, fall back.” The confusion that resulted was partially a result of change made by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

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It used to be that the clocks would change on the last Sunday in October and the first Sunday in April. Since 2007, the time changes have been occurring on the first Sunday in November and the second Sunday in March, extending standard time by about a week.

Hawaii and Arizona don’t have to worry about the change as those two states are constantly on standard time in their respective time zones. In Arizona, this applies to practically the whole state with the exception of the Navajo Nation lands. The Navajo Nation observes Daylight Saving Time.

Do away with daylight saving time?

There have been several attempts recently to align Utah with Arizona and do away with semiannual time changes. The latest bill, Daylight Saving Time Exemption introduced by Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry, during the 2015 general legislative session, failed to make it out of the House Rules Committee.

Rep. Fred Cox, R-West Valley City, is trying again, drafting a bill that would keep Utah on standard time all year. Cox said a statewide study has similar results to a poll he took of his constituents showing almost two-thirds of the voters in Utah would prefer ending the constant change twice a year.

“Earlier this year, it didn’t surprise me that there were two different proposals,” Cox said. “One of them was to go on daylight saving time permanently, which apparently fights with current federal law, and the other one was to have us match Arizona’s time, and that one (Perry’s Daylight Saving Time Exemption bill) really didn’t move.”

Cox plans to bring his bill for consideration in a forthcoming session of the Legislature.

“I think it’s a big enough issue that we really should decide for real instead of just kicking it down the road once in a while,” Cox said. “All of a sudden, with people setting their clocks this weekend, people started to look to see if anybody was going to run with it and they started realizing that I had run. So I’ve had a few questions in the last couple of days.”

Change smoke detector batteries as well

It’s also a good idea to change the batteries in smoke detectors and to get in the habit of doing so twice a year at each time change.

Should you fail to set your clocks back an hour before bedtime Saturday, you will be an hour early to church or your tee time … but you may find the extra hour of sleep appreciated.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.

 

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8 Comments

  • DB October 31, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    I’m all for getting rid of Daylight Savings. However, if I had a dollar for each time the legislature has tried to abolish it…..

  • .... October 31, 2015 at 9:20 pm

    YES GET RID OF IT !!!!!

  • DRT October 31, 2015 at 9:31 pm

    Lets keep Daylight Savings, but get rid of our do-nothing legislators!

  • Roger October 31, 2015 at 11:36 pm

    I, personally, like Daylight Saving Time. It is so depressing to go to the car after work, and watch the sun sink behind the mountain to end the day. There is no daylight to go home and do anything. It is SO DEPRESSING. I like that extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.

    However, now I work with trucking companies that come up from Arizona and some that come from California. Here in the St. George, Utah, we live within 90 miles of FOUR TIMEZONES. California is on Pacific Standard time, and in the summer is on Pacific Daylight Time. St. George is on Mountain Standard Time and in the summer on Mountain Daylight Time. Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time year round. The Navajo Nation is the exception in Arizona as it is on Mountain Standard Time and moves to Mountain Daylight Time in the summer. The other Indian nations in Arizona do not change, but remain on Mountain Standard Time.
    Working with truck drivers, it takes mental gymnastics to figure what time they have on their watches, so that I am not an hour late or an hour too early in meeting them. For example, a truck coming from Arizona in the summer would be coming one hour later than they tell me if they start from Arizona proper, because MST is one hour behind MDT. However, if they start in the Navajo Nation, they would not be because the Navajo Nation does change time. Remember, that Mountain Daylight Time is the same as Central Standard Time, so there is an hour difference. If the truck is coming from California, it’s reasonable to assume that there will be an hour difference, unless he assumes that Arizona being on Mountain Standard Time, would be on the same time as Utah, and that Mountain Standard Time is the same as Mountain Daylight Time, which it isn’t. A lot of time, they will simply Mountain Time, which really confuses the situation. So, as long as he tells me in “California Time” (PDT) (MST) there is no problem, but I usually have to spend several minutes to determine which time he is using.
    It’s also difficult for my daughter. She lives in Kanab, Utah, and works in Fredonia, Arizona which is 15 miles away. During the summer, there is an hour difference between the two even though it’s only 15 miles apart. It makes it hard for the entire area to figure out which time zone they are referring to when they say 5:00. Is it Mountain Standard Time (Arizona) or Mountain Daylight Time (Utah) (Navajo Nation)?
    In speaking with my neighbors, we are tired of the confusion. More than 75% of people want to stay with Arizona on Mountain Standard Time year round. In spite of my hate to loose the hour of sunlight at night, I will go along with the majority. Let’s stay Mountain Standard Time year round.

  • McMurphy October 31, 2015 at 11:44 pm

    I want to keep DST so we always have the same relationship to the rest of the country; i.e., two hours earlier. that eastern, one hour earlier than central and one hour later than pacific. However, if making the change twice a year is just too hard for some folks …

    • .... November 1, 2015 at 7:48 am

      To hard for some folks ? Talk about a stupid comment..there’s one

  • mshaw November 1, 2015 at 7:51 am

    Well Roger if you like it change your work schedule I’m sure your not willing to do that!

  • ladybugavenger November 1, 2015 at 11:27 am

    Roger, your comment was enlightening. It sucks when it gets dark early. I wonder if depression medicine prescription increase during these months ( oh ya, they probably do and blame it on thanksgiving and Christmas aka holidays)

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