Legislator wants to do away with Daylight Saving Time in Utah - East Idaho News
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Legislator wants to do away with Daylight Saving Time in Utah

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Utah (KUTV) — On Sunday, Nov. 6, Daylight Saving Time will end, but one Utah politician wants to put an end to it altogether.

Representative Norm Thurston, district 64, has drafted legislation for the upcoming 2017 General Session that will allow the public to weigh in on the end of changing the clocks in Utah.

According to a non-scientific study conducted by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, 66.5 percent of respondents want to continually fall back and altogether forego changing the clocks. Only 15.4 percent of those surveyed want to keep the current system.

“Changing the clocks in the spring and fall has real impacts on physical and emotional health and productivity,” said Rep. Thurston. “This is the most frequently raised concern for my constituents and am I sure for many legislators. The people who are affected by the changing clocks really have a hard time and they make their voices heard. I hear most often from parents with special needs children and from adults with health issues that are sensitive to changes in routine.”

Daylight Saving Time was established in the United States in 1966 with the caveat that each state could opt out without federal approval. Two states, Arizona and Hawaii, have done so. A press release from the Utah House of Representatives states lawmakers in nearly a dozen other states are debating similar measures.

Were Utah to opt out of Daylight Saving it would mean the sun coming up earlier in the morning and setting earlier in the evening during the summer season.

Thurston noted in the press release that businesses and employers would be free to adjust opening and closing times and work schedules were the legislation to pass.

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