The clock approaches midnight at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the last night of the legislative session, Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Tired of changing your clocks twice a year? So are a handful of Utah lawmakers, who threw their support behind a new bill that would put the state on standard time year-round.
The bill sponsored by Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville, got an initial nod of approval Wednesday when the House Government Operations Committee unanimously voted in favor of it.
Elison’s bill, HB120, would put the state on standard time for the entire year, beginning Jan. 1 2026 — that would eliminate the clocks moving forward one hour during the summer, which means the sun would set earlier then if the bill passes.
Elison made it clear Wednesday that he doesn’t favor standard time over daylight time, or vice versa. However, it would take an act of Congress for a state to move permanently to Daylight Saving Time, whereas a state can decide to simply stay on standard time.
“The only thing we can do as legislators is to move to standard time. That’s the only tool we have to stop moving our clocks,” he said, noting that it’s an issue his constituents care about.
“About 75% to 80% of Utahns want us to stop moving the clock. That’s the issue. They’re tired of it,” he told the committee on Wednesday.
Utah already has a bill in place that would eliminate changing the clocks, with two caveats. The bill — passed in 2020 and sponsored by Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville — would move the state to year-round Daylight Saving Time, as long as four other Western states and Congress passed similar legislation.
That’s a big “and,” said Elison, who has little faith in Congress taking action. Earlier this year, Utah Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy introduced a bill that would put the state on Daylight Saving Time, but it hasn’t been voted on.
But the idea has been gaining traction nationally, with President Donald Trump in December announcing his support to end Daylight Saving Time.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
Elison pointed to Arizona, where lawmakers decided to permanently stay on standard time in 1968. Since then, Elison said, there hasn’t been an effort to reinstate daylight time. Sometimes he hears concerns that it could impact travel and other industry, but Utah’s neighbor to the south doesn’t have any issues.
“Trucks and airplanes have been coming in and out of Arizona since the ’60s, and there seems to be OK movement,” he said.
Hawaii also does not observe Daylight Saving Time.
But at least one group has concerns — golfers. The game is a large economic driver for Utah, and earlier this year the state hosted its first PGA tournament since 1968 at the Black Desert Golf Course in southern Utah. Many rounds of golf are played in the summer afternoons and evenings, including by high school teams and amateur leagues.
“It is important to a lot of the residents here. It will have a significant impact on the game and on the economics of the game if we move to standard time,” said Ryan Petersen with the Golf Alliance of Utah.
To pass, Elison’s bill will need approval from a majority of the House, then go before a Senate committee before being voted on by the full Senate.
And while it seems lawmakers in the House are warming up to the idea, the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where it received a lukewarm reception on Wednesday.
“Oh, we’re going to deal with that again?” Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said when asked about it. “We’ll see if it gets to the Senate … it’s a debate that we’ve had before, looks like we’re going to have it again.”
Sen. Chris Wilson, a Republican who represents some of Cache Valley and Logan, said the bill could make life difficult for his district, where residents — many of them students and commuters — often travel back and forth between Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.
“It would obviously be a concern if Idaho or Wyoming were both on different time zones than Utah. You can see what a problem that would cause in Cache Valley or Box Elder County,” he said.
The consensus among several senators on Wednesday was to bide their time and see if the bill gets out of the House.
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