Letter to the editor teaser graphic

An article in the Rogue Valley Times described Oregon lawmakers letting die a bill that would ditch daylight saving time and make standard time permanent. The change would have been contingent on similar measures being adopted by Washington and California.

Everybody hates turning their clocks back and forth, but we suspect there would be more support for getting rid of the four months we spend on standard time, based on the fact that we’ve already agreed to it.

California voters approved a measure in 2018 making daylight saving time permanent. In 2019 Washington legislators overwhelmingly passed a bill to stay on permanent daylight saving time, and that same year so did the Oregon Legislature.

And for good reason: No sooner does it already get dark too early in the fall than we have to turn the clocks back and make it get dark an hour earlier. No wonder people get seasonal affective disorder.

The complicating factor is that states can decide on their own to remain on standard time, but remaining on daylight saving time literally requires an act of Congress, which can hardly agree to keep the government open much less do anything useful.

In spite of the difficulty, we believe that pursuing what people actually want, and have already agreed to, would be worth the effort.

Michael and Barbara Steely

Medford