AUSTIN – An effort to ditch daylight saving time in Texas could end up getting more than just 15 minutes of fame.
The House is scheduled to vote on Friday on a bill by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, that would eliminate the seasonal time changes. Under the proposal, Texas would fall back to standard time in November – and stay there.
“Let’s go back to ‘Texas time’ or ‘God’s time,’ however you want to say it,” Flynn said this week.
Flynn earned national media attention this year for his idea, which he admitted came to him when he couldn’t figure out how to change his car’s clock after a recent time change.
He’s blasted the time changes as outdated and unnecessary. He’s cast them as dangerous, citing reports that they cause traffic accidents and increase heart attacks. And he’s sought to dispel the notion that daylight saving time is important to farmers and ranchers.
“The bottom line is that a rooster or a cow, they don’t know what a clock says,” he said.
But with all the weighty topics that lawmakers must address in a 140-day session, many figured the clock would just run out on Flynn’s idea.
A House committee, however, quietly approved the proposal late last month. And with just over three weeks left in the session, there could be enough time for the House and Senate to make Texas join Hawaii and most of Arizona in not observing daylight saving time.
Flynn said one sticking point had been whether Texas should forever spring forward or permanently fall back. But it turns out he didn’t really have a choice, since federal law on uniform time outlines just a state’s ability to disregard daylight saving time.
“We have to go back,” he said.
This article originally posted here.
