LockTheClock

Fix Daylight Saving Time for good!

March 2022

What To Do Now To Fix Daylight Saving Time Forever

I am now a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, which is a thing I just never imagined saying before and I am still getting used to it.

The campaign had a HUGE deadline on March 15th, something that I personally had to work harder on than just about anything I’ve ever worked on in my whole life. We got it done, and then I was at lunch trying to relax for just a minute when my phone absolutely exploded with messages.

Now you know the news: The U.S. Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse seemed absolutely giddy by the standards of the floor of the Senate.

Sheldon whitehouse on DST

This is great news!!! (If I was not running for Congress on a promised to fix Daylight Saving Time, this would be unequivocally great news. It still is great, but it does complicate my message just a bit. It’s OK, I’ll get that part figured out.)

That it came without a roll call vote, and happened with Unanimous Consent was a bit anticlimactic, and so Sen. Whitehouse had to explain it:

Whitehouse: We have just passed the bill to end the return from Daylight Savings Time.. pic.twitter.com/lDdwRzyemN

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 15, 2022

 

Now, while this is progress for sure, it is not the end of the road. Even if the House passes this and the President signs it, I am worried something could goof it up before the implementation, which is a year and a half away. That’s why I think we need to keep pressing to make sure this gets done done done.

What could delay it? Or stop progress completely? Confusion about what time zone we are going to #LockTheClock into.

There is a small but vocal set of sleep scientists who have been saying that we should only lock into Standard Time, not Daylight Time, as the current bill is set up. Their arguments have never made much of a dent in the state legislatures, and now that we have the federal bill that has actually passed unanimously, it is crystal clear that permanent DST is what nearly all of the people and the politicians want.

But it is a legitimate question, and one that needs to be considered, especially in some states that lie on the western edge of their time zones.

That’s why I was so pleased to see that the Sunshine Act that was approved had a change that I recommended strongly to the office of the sponsor, Sen. Marco Rubio. The original bill had immediate implementation. I advocated that they include a one-year phase-in, and that is what happened.

Now we will have one more winter in Standard Time, and during that winter I hope a couple of key things happen:

  1. Legislators in states like Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee, as well as North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas all pay close attention all year to what the sunrises and sunsets could and should be. Permanent Standard time will still give them plenty of late sun in the summer, but will make mornings a bit less dark, and allow them to unify in a single time zone over those whole states, which are all split in two right now.
  2. That school boards everywhere will realize that change is coming, and this is the point they should really examine their bell schedules. School start times are outrageously early now, especially for high schools with what we know about the sleep needs of adolescents. With the sun coming up later, some high school start times should be pushed TWO HOURS later. That might seem like a huge change, and it is, but if we learned anything during Covid, it was that change can happen quickly if needed, and this is needed.

I think these things will happen, in part because I just took a look at my blog traffic. Usually my most popular pages are the ones with the memes, and the one that tracks legislation around the country. Since the Senate vote, by far my most popular page is the guide of which is the best time zone to lock into. 

If you are in one of those states that is split, I hope you will take a look at where you are, and really consider what will be best for you and those around you.

But if you are in any of the other states, and you are mad about the fact that you still have to change your clocks two more times, just remember that other times that we have fiddled with the clock rashly and hastily, there was a backlash, and part of that backlash is what has kept us in the current mess for all these years.

We have had some form of clock changing since World War I. As the world currently tries to avoid World War III, let’s all just remain patient, and make sure that this particular part of modern life is surely, completely and finally fixed forever.

One other thing that could stop progress:

The other thing that could halt progress is just partisanship. This is a totally bipartisan bill, but the face most associated with it is Sen. Marco Rubio, who could be a candidate for president. Or there could be some other partisan spat that keeps progress from being made. That’s the kind of thing that drives me nutso, and it’s a big part of why I’m running for Congress. If you are interested in learning more, please be in touch on that site. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Statement on Daylight Saving Time for the House Energy & Commerce Committee

Here is the statement I provided at the request of the staff from the House Energy & Commerce subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce:

Thank you for this opportunity to address you about the problems with Daylight Saving Time clock changing.

My name is Scott Yates, and I am the leader of the international movement known as Lock The Clock, otherwise known as a guy who writes blog posts in his spare time.

While the movement started as just a blog, it grew into a collection of research and testimony that I have provided that legislators around the country used to help pass laws in about half the states, states that are dominated by Republicans and Democrats. The clock works—and doesn’t work—for people all over the country just the same, except for those in Arizona, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

And what does that research show? There is no question: The change to the clocks in the Spring is deadly. Heart attacks, strokes, traffic and workplace accidents all spike up.

Next week people will die, be injured and hospitalized. And why?

Here is an instructive thought experiment. Imagine someone today proposed changing the clocks twice per year. That person would say that in doing so, we will place a drain on the economy, we will kill and injure many and annoy just about everyone. But it will be worth it because…

That is where the thought experiment becomes a clear lesson for us today. There is no benefit to changing the clocks twice per year. None.

You are all familiar with the history, that we started doing this during WWI to keep in time with the Germans. It went away after the war because the farmers all hated it. It came back in WWII, and somehow we have been stuck with it ever since.

With the current war in Ukraine, a look at the clocks is instructive. When Russia took over in Crimea, one of the first things it did was change the clocks by two hours so that they would be in synch with Moscow, which does not change twice per year. Ukraine wants to be in synch with Europe, so it continues to change twice per year. If the unimaginable happens and Ukraine becomes a puppet state of Russia, one of the ways we will know is that they will change the time to be lined up with Moscow.

All of this makes clear the very nature of what time actually is. In short, it is an agreement among people. We need a system so that we can live a modern life.

Right now the agreement that we call “time” is killing, injuring, and annoying people. Because it is an agreement, it is something that can be fixed, and it must be.

One last note:

While I started this odyssey to fix Daylight Saving Time eight years ago as a hobby, it has now grown into something more, as it is the signature issue for me as I seek elected office. (You can see much more at www.scottyates.com)

It is a great issue. I meet people every day, and tell them I want to fix this, and the reaction is nearly universal in excitement and enthusiasm. How many politicians can say that when they tell someone about their signature issue, they get a high-five as a response? I get one nearly every day.

The people are not just ready for this to happen, they are genuinely excited.

Thank you very much.

Tipping Point to fix Daylight Saving Time for good?

It is a big week for those who want to #LockTheClock. It is the week before the change, so we all haven’t been robbed of an hour of sleep and can articulate why it is that the Spring Forward change is so deadly.

And it’s even a bigger week because the fact that I am now running to be a U.S. Representative on this issue is raising the profile of the issue that much more.

One example is this Washington Post story, that got right to the heart of what I have been talking about.

Tipping point

I am not actually sure where the Tipping Point is. Have we passed it, or will we only really have passed it once the law is changed?

The change is coming for sure, it’s just a matter of time.

It will certainly come faster if I get elected and spend my time in Washington pushing for it. (If you want to learn more about that, visit my campaign site: www.ScottYates.com.)

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being a part of the change.

And remember, on the Monday after the Spring Forward change, #SleepInForSafety.