There were two basic approaches through last year to fix DST:
- A bill that says the state will go into permanent Daylight Saving Time, either when neighboring states do it, or when it is allowed by the federal government to do so.
- A resolution calling on the federal government to allow the states to go into permanent Daylight Saving Time.
This year, we came up with a third approach in Colorado, which is to ask the voters which time zone they prefer once the feds pass an act.
I posted links to model language for all three below.
If you are a legislator currently working on this topic, well, you might consider this third way.
If you want to do it the first way, and think you have the votes to get it enacted… Go for it! (And let me know how I can help.) If you do not have the votes, however, maybe you could amend your current bill with this “Colorado” approach?
It is more substantial than a resolution, and it may help spur the change that we need out of Washington.
Model Daylight Saving Time bills – Neighboring state dependent
Some of the ones that have been enacted are:
You might also check in for the latest on this legislative page because there are a lot of these.
Model DST bills – Waiting on the Feds
The three enacted so far are:
Model DST resolutions
And one that I wrote back in 2015.
Third Way: Call for vote of the people before Federal Mandate
This is the complex, but legally sound way to ask for a vote of the people to figure out what permanent time they would prefer in the (likely) event that federal law suddenly takes away the clock-changing.
To download the PDF as created by the legislative lawyers in Colorado, click here.
If you have another approach, or think there is some language that would be helpful to legislators, please contact me.
And Good Luck! This really seems to be the tipping-point year.