It's that time of year again.
Sunday, Nov. 3, marks the end of daylight saving time, meaning we rolled back our clocks an hour and welcomed (or dreaded) the Big Dark with pre-5 p.m. sunsets.
In 2019, Washington state lawmakers passed a law to make daylight saving time permanent.
But the law can't take effect until Congress takes action; federal law only allows states to opt into standard time permanently. Efforts to change the federal law have repeatedly stalled.
Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, and 12 other senators this year introduced a bill to take Washington state in another direction: Staying on Pacific Standard Time year-round. That bill stalled in the Washington state Legislature, with Padden retiring from his position by the end of this year.
But Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, who is running for reelection, plans to introduce a similar bill next year.
"Can we just do this one more time and put an end to this?" Wilson said of the time change.
The Seattle Times spoke with Wilson about why he plans to introduce the bill. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why permanent standard time and not permanent daylight saving time?
Federal law allows states to adopt the standard time permanently. The bill sends a message to Congress that we in Washington state want to ditch the switch.
If Congress was to adopt permanent daylight saving time — and I suspect most people would support that — the bill acknowledges that. But starting with permanent standard time is a great way to start that clock, that stopwatch, so to speak, until Congress finally acts.
It sounds like you don't care about whether Washington moves to permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time.
I think the clock has run out for us to take this issue and resolve it. To have this go on year after year, we get into the routine and the routine is very inconvenient. It is time to put an end to it and set our clock for the last time. This bill starts that motion.
What got you personally invested?
A lot of us think about it at least twice a year because we have to.
Everything we do in our lives is set to a clock every day. Although we do this twice a year, I don't know how many people enjoy it.
I represent the 19th District, and we have a large natural resource-based economy. Our workers, they are shift workers. They have to set their clocks regardless of whether it's daylight saving time or standard time. But if we pick a time and roll with that, I think that alone will allow us to concentrate on other matters.
How would this bill account for any possible action from Congress? Is this a leverage play, so to speak?
Congress has the power to set permanent daylight saving time. I believe it's their intention.
But Washington needs to move forward and live on one clock time period. Please, Congress, hear us loud and clear, can you make a decision one way or the other on this?
This bill has failed before. Why will next year be different?
There's going to be a new chairman at the State Government and Elections Committee next year. We're going to have new leaders on the Senate side. On behalf of the 19th District, I would like to encourage the new chair to hear this bill.
What would you say to those who may be confused by what the state Legislature passed in 2019?
There is confusion occurring already twice a year every year in Washington. We're going to break that cycle of confusion.
If I had the ability to switch the state to daylight saving time year-round, I would have done so. But the bill to end the confusion ... this is the mechanism to get you there. Let's end this switch once and for all.
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