Just a quick post to say that this topic is on the back burner, just for a bit. Like the rest of the world, I hope that soon we have adequate testing and that we can get back to life that will be a new normal.
For years I’ve gotten emails, tweets and general complaints that this issue just is not all that important. Legislators get that all the time on this, and really on just about any issue: Why are you working on this when you could be working on [insert pet issue here]?
But now even I say that Daylight Saving Time is an issue that can wait. Once we no longer all need to shelter in place, we can pick things back up.
Also there’s just not as much to report about. Like everything else, state legislatures have suspended meeting. And the federal efforts are stuck because nothing non-Covid-19 related is happening.
I was hoping that this year we’d get to 20 states that have passed something. We had three states pass something before the crisis hit: South Carolina, Ohio and Utah, (which passed a bill this year after passing a resolution last year.)
Then just as the legislatures started adjourning, Wyoming passed its bill, and from a socially distant desk, the governor of Wyoming signed the bill into law with little fanfare this week. The sponsor of the bill contacted me when it was signed, and we celebrated electronically. I was personally bummed because Wyoming is close enough that I could have easily made it for a bill-signing ceremony, but there was no ceremony. There are far bigger tragedies associated with COVID, but still…
So, I will continue to monitor the news, but not a lot else. With luck by the time the Fall Back change comes in November, as a society we will have enough capacity to handle recovery AND fixing the clocks.
Change in turbulent times
One small historical note:
Two years ago I wrote about the 100th anniversary of Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. In that post, I started off with a reference to the flu that was so deadly in that year.
I was hoping then that the 100th anniversary would be the hook that would get us to pay attention and kill DST clock-changing. That didn’t happen.
But…
DST started during a pandemic. Maybe it will end during one?
If something happens, you will know about it first right here, so do keep in touch.
-Scott