Assembly Joint Resolution No. 28

RESOLUTION CHAPTER 167

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 28—Relative to daylight saving time.

[Filed with Secretary of State September 1, 2016.]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 28, Obernolte. Daylight saving time.

This measure would memorialize the Congress and the President to enact legislation that would allow a state to adopt daylight saving time year round.

WHEREAS, The State of California is committed to attaining 50 percent of its energy generation from renewable sources; and

WHEREAS, Daylight saving time was a widely used 20th century energy reduction tool that can be expanded to meet 21st century energy shortages; and

WHEREAS, A 2004 study from Rutgers University titled “The Effects of Daylight and Daylight Saving Time on United States Pedestrian Fatalities and Motor Vehicle Occupant Fatalities” found that year-round daylight saving time would reduce pedestrian fatalities by 171 or 13 percent of all pedestrian fatalities per year in the 5 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. time periods and reduce motor vehicle occupants fatalities by 195 or 3 percent per year in the same time period; and

WHEREAS, A 2015 study in The Review of Economics and Statistics titled “Under the Cover of Darkness: How Ambient Light Influences Criminal Activity” estimated a 7 percent decrease in robberies following the shift to daylight saving time; and

WHEREAS, Scientists have connected a number of health consequences with the act of switching between standard time and daylight saving time, including greater risks of heart attacks (New England Journal of Medicine, 2008), more frequent traffic accidents (New England Journal of Medicine, 1996) and workplace injuries (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009), and increased suicide rates in the days immediately after the switch (Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 2008); and

WHEREAS, Although neither standard time nor daylight saving time produces much energy reduction for the coldest states during the more frigid months of the year, California enjoys a temperate climate that would afford greater reductions in energy use by utilizing a year-round daylight saving time plan; and

WHEREAS, The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 allows states to decline application of daylight saving time and provides states with the option of practicing standard time year round, but does not allow states to practice daylight saving time year round; and

WHEREAS, By applying daylight saving time uniformly, the state could avoid any inconsistencies in time application that would otherwise impact and confuse the broadcasting, rail, airline, and motor coach industries; and

WHEREAS, In House of Representatives Report No. 99-185 from the Committee on Energy and Commerce, numerous benefits are listed in support of the extension of daylight saving time, including significant energy conservation, improved traffic safety, reduction in crime, economic growth, and overwhelming public support; and

WHEREAS, The state would greatly benefit from having the option of extending daylight saving time year round; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California respectfully memorializes the United States Congress and the President of the United States to enact legislation that would allow a state to adopt daylight saving time year round; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.



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