BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 385|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 385
Author: Chu (D)
Amended: 5/9/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 9-2, 6/13/16
AYES: Hueso, Morrell, Gaines, Hertzberg, Hill, Lara, McGuire,
Pavley, Wolk
NOES: Cannella, Leyva
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Nielsen
SUBJECT: Daylight Saving Time
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires an initiative to be placed on the
ballot allowing voters to decide to eliminate Daylight Saving
Time (DST), also known Pacific Daylight Time or summer time, as
it currently exists and switch to year-round standard time, also
known as winter time. This bill also provides that any future
changes could be made by a majority vote of the Legislature.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
AB 385
Page 2
1)Establishes, under federal law, the standard time of the
United States for each of nine zones and advances the standard
time of each zone by one hour during the period commencing at
2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of March of each year and
ending at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November of each
year.
2)Provides that under the DST Act, which was adopted as an
initiative measure by the voters at the November 8, 1949,
special election, the standard time within the state is that
which is known, described, and designated by federal law as
United States Standard Pacific Time.
3)Requires, from 1:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of April, until
2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October, the standard time
within the state to be one hour in advance of United States
Standard Pacific Time.
This bill requires an initiative to be placed on the ballot
allowing voters to eliminate DST, also known Pacific Daylight
Time or "summer time", as it currently exists and switch to
year-round standard time, also known as "winter time". This
bill also provides that any future changes could be made by a
majority vote of the Legislature.
Background
Some history. Benjamin Franklin (1784) is credited with the
basic idea of DST after observing that people were sleeping
during sunlit hours in the early morning and burning candles for
illumination in the evening. However, it didn't "officially"
begin in the U.S. until World War I (1918), 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 DST after the war ended,
DST wasn't officially observed nationally again until 1942, when
it was re-enacted for World War II, then repealed after the war
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Page 3
in 1945. From 1945 to 1966, there was no federal law regarding
DST, so states and localities were free to choose whether to
observe DST and could choose when it began and ended. This
understandably caused confusion, especially for the broadcasting
industry, as well as for railways, airlines, and bus companies.
["Daylight Savings Time". WebExhibits.
http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/e.html ]
Daylight Saving Time Act. California voters passed Proposition
12 in 1949, approving DST in the state, and that the standard
time within the state is that which is known, described, and
designated by federal law as United States Standard Pacific
Time.
Uniform Time Act of 1966. The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966
(UTA) 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. Most states opted for a
coordinated DST. However, the UTA allows states to choose only
to remain on standard time as an alternative but not to choose
to remain on DST. In 1972, Congress revised the law to provide
that, if a state was in two or more time zones, the state could
exempt the part of the state that was in one time zone while
providing that the part of the state in a different time zone
would observe DST. The federal law was amended in 1986 to begin
DST on the first Sunday in April. ["Daylight Savings Time"]
Energy Policy Act of 2005. Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended
DST in the U.S. by three weeks in the spring and one week in the
fall, beginning on March 11 2007, in the hope that the extension
would save energy. Since then, California has begun DST at 2:00
a.m. on the second Sunday of March and ended at 2:00 a.m. on the
first Sunday of November. Should Congress enact legislation to
allow a state to adopt DST year round, current statute would
require that the change would have to be approved by California
voters.
Legislative findings:
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Today, the UTA provides that either Congress or the Secretary
of Transportation can change a time-zone boundary. [US
Department of Transportation ]
DST is currently practiced in 76 countries and directly
affects more than 1.6 billion people worldwide. [Matthew J.
Kotchen and Laura E. Grant, "Does Daylight Saving Time Save
Energy? Evidence form a Natural Experiment in Indiana". The
National Bureau of Economic Research.
http://www.nber.org/papers/w14429]
States and territories in the United States that do not
observe DST include: most of Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa,
Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Some parts of Indiana did not observe daylight saving time in
the past.
According to a national telephone survey of 1,000 adults
conducted March 5-6, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports concluded that
only 33 percent of American adults think DST is worth the
hassle. 48 percent do not think the clock changing ritual is
worth it, but percent are not sure.
Estimates of DST effects. The California Energy Commission (CEC)
conducted a research on DST published in 2007 that examined
whether and how much the Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed daily
electricity. The extension of DST to March 2007 had little or
no effect on energy consumption in California, according to a
statistical analysis. The most likely approximation is a 0.2
percent decrease during these three weeks. In 2008 a study was
published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, who
studied energy use in Indiana. The experiment in the state of
Indiana provided the first empirical estimates of DST effects on
electricity consumption in the United States since the mid-1970s
focusing on residential electricity demand. The main finding,
contrary to the policy's intent: DST increases residential
electricity demand. An estimate of the overall increase is
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approximately one percent. DST causes the greatest increase in
electricity consumption in the fall, when estimates range
between two percent and four percent.
Potential cost in California. According to a 2008 a study by
the National Bureau of Economic Research, Indiana households pay
an additional $9 million per year in energy bills because of
DST. Also it was estimated a social costs of increased
pollution emissions that range from $1.7 to $5.5 million per
year. The study concluded that the effect is likely to be even
stronger in other regions of the United States.
Another step away from uniformity. The purpose of the UTA of
1966 was to put states on a relatively uniform time schedule
within their specific times zones. Granted, the fact that
Hawaii, most of Arizona, and the eastern portion of Indiana have
exercised the option under the UTA not to move to DST during the
summer means that states already aren't operating on a uniform
time system. However, this proposal, if enacted by the federal
government, gives states the option to move even further away
from the notion of a uniform time system by going to DST on a
year-round basis.
Intended benefits. Reports indicate that in regions with a
temperate climate, DST results in energy savings and year-round
DST could potentially increase these savings as well as,
industrial efficiency. Additionally, extra daylight in the
evening hours could provide a boost to the tourism and shopping
industries. [American College of Cardiology. "Daylight saving
impacts timing of heart attacks." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29
March 2014.
Page 6
Comments
According to the author, "Californians lose an hour in the
spring to adjust to Daylight Saving Time. Whether it increases
in the number of recorded heart attacks, greater likelihood of
industrial and workplace injuries, or a noticeable uptick in
traffic accidents and fatalities, there is correlative evidence
that the loss of one hour each year constitutes an unnecessary
public health emergency. The burden must be on the supporters
of preserving DST to demonstrate what tangible reasons are there
to continue the status quo when doing so causing demonstrable
harm to the public."
Related/Prior Legislation
AB 2496 (Chu, 2016) declares the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation to establish United States Standard Pacific
Time as the standard time within the state during the entire
year. The bill is pending referral at the Assembly Desk.
AJR 28 (Obernolte, 2016) memorializes the Congress and the
President to enact legislation that would allow a state to adopt
daylight saving time year-round. The bill is pending
consideration by the full Senate.
AJR 56 (Longville, Chapter 127, Statutes of 2000) memorialized
the President and the Congress to enact legislation to allow
states the opportunity to choose year-round daylight saving
time, in addition to standard time or the current system of
"traditional" daylight saving time.
SJRX2 1 (Karnette, Resolution Chapter 1, Statutes of 2001-02,
Second Extraordinary Session) memorialized the Congress to
approve legislation that allows a state to uniformly apply
daylight saving time year-round.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, one-time costs
between $414,000 and $552,000 to the Secretary of State for
printing and mailing costs to place the measure on the ballot in
the next statewide election. (General Fund).
SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/16)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/16/16)
Numerous individuals
Prepared by:Jay Dickenson / E., U., & C. / (916) 651-4107
8/16/16 13:48:58
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