BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SJR 1XX|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SJR 1XX
Author: Karnette (D), et al
Amended: 6/18/01
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
SENATE FLOOR : 28-1, 5/17/01
AYES: Ackerman, Brulte, Burton, Chesbro, Costa, Dunn,
Figueroa, Johannessen, Karnette, Knight, Kuehl, Margett,
McClintock, McPherson, Monteith, Morrow, Murray,
O'Connell, Oller, Ortiz, Peace, Polanco, Romero, Scott,
Sher, Soto, Torlakson, Vasconcellos
NOES: Speier
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-1, 6/21/01 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Daylight saving time
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution memorializes the Congress to
approve legislation that allows a state to uniformly apply
daylight saving time year-round.
Assembly amendments delete several whereas clauses and add
a new clause.
ANALYSIS : Current federal law allows states to operate
on standard time year-round or to operate for part of the
year on standard time and part of the year (the first
CONTINUED
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Sunday in April through the last Sunday in October) on
Daylight Saving Time (DST).
Current state law doesn't require California to operate on
standard time on a year-round basis, so the state therefore
operates on DST for nearly seven months of the year.
This resolution outlines the history of DST and
memorializes the President and Congress to allow states to
operate on DST on a year-round basis.
This resolution finds that the State of California would
greatly benefit from having the option of extending
daylight saving time year-round and should have at its
disposal any and every appropriate tool to triumph during
this energy crisis.
Background :
DST was first suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 as a
way of saving on candles. It was first seriously advocated
by William Willit, a British builder, in his pamphlet
"Waste of Daylight" in 1907, but it didn't officially begin
in the U.S. until World War I, when it was enacted
primarily to extend the length of the production day and
save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting.
Although some states and communities observed daylight
saving time after the war's end, DST wasn't officially
observed nationally again until 1942, when it was
re-enacted for World War II, then repealed after the war.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established a standardized
system of operating DST throughout the U.S. and its
territories, exempting only those states and territories
that enacted laws to keep their entire state or territory
on standard time. One of the driving forces behind the
creation of the Act was Fred Ackerman, the Chairman of the
Greyhound Bus Lines Board. In the early 1960's, Greyhound
couldn't print bus schedules fast enough to keep up with
the time changes throughout the country. Bus schedules
were obsolete in two weeks and so complicated that the
average passenger couldn't decode them - then when the
passenger missed the bus, he or she would generally blame
the bus company.
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The entire country went on year-round DST during the 1974
energy crisis in an effort to save energy. While some
savings were realized, a number of people - in particular
those in the farming community - complained being on
year-round DST made them work an extra hour in the dark in
the early morning winter months and getting an extra hour
of light at the end of the day wasn't worth the trade-off.
The plug was pulled on the year-round DST experiment in
April 1975 and the current system of beginning DST at 2:00
a.m. on first Sunday in April and ending it at 2:00 a.m. on
the last Sunday in October was standardized in 1986.
Today, DST begins at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in
April, when clocks "spring" forward one hour, and ends at
2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October when clocks "fall
back" one hour to standard time.
Hawaii, the eastern time zone portion of Indiana, Arizona
(except for the area of the Navajo Indian Reservation),
American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
don't observe DST.
Related legislation :
SB 1X (Karnette) of 2001 is similar and passed the Senate
30-1 (Noes: Speier).
Last year, the Senate passed AJR 56 (Longville), Resolution
Chapter 127, Statutes of 2000, which is nearly identical to
SJR 1X.
California Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Woodland Hills)
introduced HR 704 on February 14, 2001 to permit states in
the Pacific time zone to temporarily adjust the standard
time in response to the energy crisis. The measure is
pending before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/22/01)
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aanestad, Aroner, Ashburn, Bates, Bogh, Briggs,
Calderon, Bill Campbell, John Campbell, Canciamilla,
Cardenas, Cardoza, Cedillo, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cogdill,
Corbett, Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz, Dickerson, Dutra,
Firebaugh, Florez, Frommer, Goldberg, Harman, Jackson,
Keeley, Kehoe, Kelley, Koretz, La Suer, Leach, Leonard,
Leslie, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Maldonado,
Matthews, Mountjoy, Nakano, Nation, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Papan, Pavley,
Pescetti, Reyes, Richman, Runner, Salinas, Shelley,
Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin, Thomson, Vargas,
Washington, Wayne, Wesson, Wiggins, Wright, Wyland,
Zettel, Hertzberg
NOES: Wyman
DLW:jk 6/22/01 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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