Most people hate changing their clocks. Why can’t California get rid of Daylight Saving Time?

The Daylight Saving Time change is unpopular. A 2019 AP-NORC poll found that just 28% of Americans favor changing their clocks twice a year. In 2018, Californians voted overwhelmingly for a ballot measure to do away with the change. So why haven’t California lawmakers done something about it?

It’s not for lack of trying.

The question of Daylight Saving Time has been one that lawmakers have grappled with for at least the better part of a decade.

In 2016, the state Senate shot down a bill that would have created a ballot measure to keep California on permanent standard time.

Lawmakers speaking against the bill at the time argued that the time change was beneficial to farmers and that eliminating it could harm California’s tourism industry. They said it would make it harder to conduct business with other states that did not eliminate the time change.

Two years later, the Legislature voted in favor of AB 807, which would put Proposition 7 on the November 2018 ballot.

Proposition 7 gave the Legislature the authorization to switch the state to permanent daylight saving time, provided California receives approval from the federal government.

The ballot measure passed by a wide margin — just shy of 60% of California voters supported it.

Following that ballot measure’s success, then-Assemblyman Kansen Chu introduced a bill to switch California to year-round Daylight Saving Time.

However, that bill stalled after passing out of the Assembly, and Chu turned it into a two-year bill, saying that he needed time to consult his constituents.

“As this is an issue that impacts all Californians, I want to take the next few months to ask my constituents their thoughts on permanent daylight saving time vs. permanent standard time,” Chu said in a statement at the time.

The bill later died in committee.

Still, opponents of Daylight Saving Time have reason to be hopeful.

Assemblyman Steven Choi, R-Irvine, has introduced a bill, AB 2868, that would set California’s standard time to year-round daylight saving time after the federal government authorizes the state to do so.

The bill, introduced last month, could be heard in committee later this month.

“My bill #AB2868 would abolish Daylight Savings Time, making this weekend the last time we have to ‘spring forward’ if approved. Extensive research shows many health and social benefits of permanent Standard Time,” Choi said in a tweet.

This story was originally published March 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.