Push to end daylight saving time for good ticks on in Washington

EVERETT, Wash. — The end of daylight saving time is nearly upon us.

On Sunday, we fall back an hour, once again prompting complaints and legislation to stop the process.

In Everett, Kara Chapman said what many believe is true of the “fall back” time change.

“It’s great that you get an extra hour of sleep, but it just makes everything bonkers!” she said.

The clock overlooking the main waiting room for the trains at Everett Station evokes the front of a locomotive. It doesn’t fully function, but if it did, it would technically fall back on Sunday. It’s a practice that some want to end, including James Sauls, who works in Everett.

“Everybody does love getting that extra hour of sleep. But it gets really confusing when you don’t set your clock back. People are late for various things,” he said.

The effort to drop the time change ticks on in Washington state. State Sen. Jeff Wilson is working on a bipartisan bill to scrap the twice-yearly time change between standard and daylight saving. Wilson says he and others want clock stability with standard time.

“It’s time to end this confusion once and for all. To me and some (others), maybe the clock has run out on Congress and this may signal to them that Washington state needs to move forward on this,” said Wilson.

The bill is listed in a Washington senate committee, and if it passes, Wilson knows the state still can’t move forward without an OK from the US Congress, which hasn’t happened yet.

Chapman has seen the impact the time change can have on people who commute out of Everett Station.

“People miss buses, they miss trains; we have people who are late for work or early for work in this case,” said Chapman.

Sauls also says a permanent time would be a benefit.

“I would just prefer to stay in one time zone: standard time zone,” he said.

Some federal officials have advocated for permanent daylight saving time. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says sleep experts prefer permanent standard time.

Some are just hoping for clocks to tick on one time all year long, including Sauls, who supports efforts to ditch the switch.

“I would be in favor of legislature stepping in and making the state of Washington one time zone in standard time zone.”

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