California Getting Closer To Keeping The Extra Hour Of Sunlight

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - California's plan to keep Daylight Saving Time year-round passed its first two Assembly Committee hearings and is on its way to becoming law. However, it can only go into effect if federal law changes.

Voters passed Proposition 7 in November 2018 by a vote of 59.75% to 40.25%. It would keep the clocks year-round at the same time we currently observe from the second Sunday or March until the first Sunday of November.

Assembly Bill 7 would need a vote of two-thirds majority.

The proposition's supporters pointed to a study showing an increased risk of car crashes and heart attacks following the spring change, due to the loss of an hour's sleep.

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Opponents of the proposition argued that even if California voters and the Legislature approve of year-round daylight saving, the hurdle of getting the federal government to approve is too high, considering the state's tense relationship with Washington. They also say the switch will cause its own headaches. If California goes to year-round daylight saving, the sun wouldn't rise until 8 a.m. during some winter months, forcing children to walk to school or buses in darkness and likely leading to an increase in car and pedestrian accidents.

Hawaii and Arizona, with the exception of the latter state's Navajo Nation, do not recognize daylight saving time.

Daylight Saving Time started during World War I in the United States and Europe. It was repealed in the United States in 1919 and left to state's and cities to decide whether to observe it. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act requiring states to observe DST from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday of October. In 2007 the Energy Policy Act of 2005 went into effect and extended DST to run from the second Sunday of March until the first Sunday of November.