Utah Legislature: Daylight savings not riding into sunset

SALT LAKE CITY — A proposal to eliminate the yearly switch to Daylight Savings Time didn't find support in a legislative committee Tuesday and likely will not see the light of day for the remainder of the session.

Rep. Ken Sumsion, R-American Fork, said he has fielded numerous complaints from his constituents about the time change, and he offered some esoteric statistics on the matter. Those included a 2008 Swedish study that found a higher rate of heart attacks in the first few days following the spring transition, and a lack of worker productivity that occurs after the change, due to shortened sleep cycles.

The proposal, HB288, aimed to either maintain standard time year-round like Arizona or stick with the adjusted savings time, a move that is prohibited by current federal statute.

Members of the House Government Operations Standing Committee weren't convinced there was a problem big enough to fix and defeated the bill on a 6-3 vote.

Link to the bill: le.utah.gov/~2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0288.htm

— Arthur Raymond