3.12.24 – Alexia Aston, The Oklahoman
Oklahomans lost an hour of sleep earlier this week, and now Oklahoma legislators are once again attempting to lock the state in daylight saving time year-round.
Senate Bill 1200 would ‘lock the clock’
Authored by Sen. Blake Stephens, R-Tahlequah, SB 1200 would require Oklahoma to adopt daylight saving time as the year-round standard time if a federal law is passed that authorizes states to do so.
The bill passed the Senate on Monday afternoon with a vote of 37-9.
Last year, Stephens authored a similar bill that didn’t pass the House.
Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, also authored a similar bill last year that would’ve sent a vote to the people for a question on whether to adopt permanent standard time in the state. The bill was not heard in committee.
“I’ve heard from numerous constituents, parents and business owners over the course of my legislative service that there is a strong desire to stop this twice yearly time change,” West said in a statement. “The only way to accomplish that is to switch to permanent standard time. I have a measure in place that would put this to a vote of the people, but we have to have the legislative will to ask the question.”
The US Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 and reintroduced it in 2023.
But the US House has yet to consider the bill that would permanently extend daylight saving time from just eight months to the entire year.
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time is the practice of setting the clock forward one hour in the spring to have the sunrise and sunset at a more reasonable hour.
The Uniform Time Act established nationwide standards for the observance of daylight saving time when it was signed into law in 1966. Before that, there was a patchwork of standards as municipalities and states chose whether or not to observe the practice.