||| FROM KING-TV |||
Whether you prefer daylight saving time or standard time, most Washingtonians can agree on this: We want to stop changing the clocks.
Our local and federal lawmakers have been trying to “ditch the switch” for half a decade.
However, nothing seems to be working. Washingtonians will lose one hour of sleep on Sunday, March 9, as scheduled, ushering us into darker mornings and 7 p.m. sunsets.
The drawn-out saga began in 2019 when state lawmakers passed a bill through a bipartisan push to switch Washington state permanently to daylight saving time. The bill was signed into law by then-Gov. Jay Inslee. However, it can’t take effect until the federal government approves the switch.
Sen. Patty Murray has been trying to make that happen at the federal level for years. Murray has partnered with several Republican lawmakers, including former senator and now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to try and get the bipartisan “Sunshine Protection Act” passed through Congress, and reintroduced it earlier this year. However, the bill has historically fallen by the wayside in light of larger issues in the two legislative sessions.
Sleep doctors think we should do away with daylight saving time overall. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a statement last year supporting the adoption of year-round standard time, “which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety,” the statement reads.
Opting into standard time appears to be the path of least resistance if the ultimate goal is to stop changing the clocks.
State lawmakers have been trying to make that happen for years now.
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