No, California is not about to get permanent daylight saving time

In a tight vote in California, with a gas tax, caged chickens, rent control and a heightened fight to grab voters' attention, a low-key proposal to open the door at one o'clock permanent advance was easily won by victory.

With nearly every constituency counted, about 60 percent of Californians voted in favor of Prop 7, an attempt by state representative Kansen Chu of San Jose to make daylight saving time a reality all year round in the Golden State.

But if these voters thought they were getting rid of the six-month embarrassment of the clock change once and for all, they were preparing for a brutal awakening. Here's why.

Prop 7 simply allows the state legislature to vote on the issue. If this is the case, the change to summer time will only be approved by two thirds of the votes.

State legislators who adhere to it, such as Chu and Rep. Lorena Gonzalez, cite studies that have shown that temporal changes increase energy consumption and disrupt sleep patterns, resulting in increased rates of heart attacks and strokes in vulnerable populations.

Those who oppose it – like Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, who wrote the opposition's argument for the vote – believe that changing California's weather system would be a major disruption, would put the # 39; State out of sync and create an uncomfortable situation. experience.

"We now have summer time in the summer, so we can have more light in the evening, when we can enjoy it, rather than having the light of day between 5 and 6 o'clock in the afternoon. morning, while we would prefer it dark, "explained Jackson. "And then in the winter, we go back to normal time so that it's not as dark in the morning."

Despite arguments from both sides, no one has collected money for or against Proposition 7. It is therefore unclear how likely the legislature will ever approach the issue.

Thanks to the Uniform Time Law passed by the US Congress in 1966, the observation of daylight saving time must "begin and end on the dates prescribed by the federal government". As a result, California can not set a non-existent end date.

So even if Prop 7 is adopted, and even though two-thirds of California lawmakers are in favor of daylight saving time, there will be no change unless the federal government ends the uniform Time Act or does not exempt California.

Nothing indicates that it will happen. Take a look at the situation in Florida, where the adoption of the "Sun Protection Act" last summer meant nothing. Senator Marco Rubio has tabled two bills that allow for change, but Congress has not taken any action on them.

The time has changed in Florida last Sunday, as in most countries.

Summer time is not observed in Hawaii, in most of Arizona, in American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico or in the Virgin Islands. They can get by because they have taken the opposite path of Chu's proposal.

Although the Uniform Time Act specifies how states can use Daylight Saving Time, it allows them to opt out. In other words, Hawaii and Arizona have chosen do not have the summer time at all.

Chu had tried the opt-out route at the outset, which would have put California on the permanent standard hour, but he changed it after being rejected by youth sports leagues that had declared that they would no longer be able to organize practices and games in the evening.