Proposal to end daylight saving time in Utah stalls in Senate committee

SALT LAKE CITY — Daylight saving time won't be going away anytime soon.

The Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee adjourned Wednesday without taking any action on a proposal to do away with the winding of clocks twice a year.

"Shifting the clocks doesn't make a lot of sense," said Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, sponsor of SB157. "It hurts productivity."

Urquhart said the need for the bill stems from an incident in which the granddaughter of one of his constituents died in a car accident.

"If she hadn't gone to school in the dark, that would never have happened," he said.

Similar bills have been brought before lawmakers in recent years. A bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Nielsen, R-Bountiful, last year also failed to advance from committee. Efforts to end daylight saving time also failed in 2011 and 2010.

"We've faced this before as a body, and I never would have at that time supported it," Urquhart said. "But states need predictability."

Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, noted that many of his constituents — farmers and ranchers, outdoor enthusiasts and car dealers — have requested that daylight saving time remain.

— Rachel Lowry