It’s All About Time…
Oh, my. Can anyone — ANYONE — tell me why the California State Senate has refused to let voters decide whether to keep going on, and off, Daylight Saving Time?
The Senate’s vote this week nixed a bill that would have placed a measure on the ballot, asking us to decide whether to dump our twice-annual clock changes and remain on Standard Time.
I’m not a big fan of Daylight Time, myself, but I understand why others like it. Some folks feel it gives them an extra hour a day after work to barbecue or take a walk or go shopping. That “shopping” part is why merchants like it, too.
But others think DST is a waste of time, and some research studies suggest that car wrecks and workplace accidents and even heart attacks increase in the days immediately after a time change.
I’ve lived in a state that does not go on DST — Arizona — and I can assure you, residents there somehow manage to get along just as well, and maybe better, than those of us who must “spring forward” and “fall back” each year.
One California state Senator — Republican Jim Nielsen of Tehama County — said farmers and their crops benefit from DST. “Our crops have gotten accustomed to that (DST),” Nielsen said. “They’ve in fact been bred to deal with that longer harvest season.”
Yes, this intellectual giant actually said that. I was not aware that crops had “gotten accustomed” to Daylight Time. I wasn’t even aware they knew how to tell time. When did they learn this, and why wasn’t I informed?
Senator, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but going on DST — or not — does not add or take away ANY hours of the day. There is no more “sunlight” if we go on DST — or less, if we stay on Standard Time. Surely you know this, right?
But perhaps not. After all, Nielsen is from one of those counties agitating to break away from California and create their own state. Perhaps these renegade counties want to create their own time, as well — though I suspect their ideal time would not be measured by an hour or two. I suspect “their” time is somewhere back in the mid-20th century — or perhaps the late-19th century.
But back to my original question — why in the world would the state Senate not let us voters decide what to do with our time? What were they afraid of?