21 February 2017

MT Senate votes today on repealing daylight saving time

The Montana Farm Bureau and other haters of daylight saving time are trying to whoop its repeal through the legislature. Last week, the Montana Senate’s state administration committee approved SB-206 eight to zip. Today, the bill goes to its second reading in the Senate. Who’s carrying this crazy legislation? Sen. Ryan Osmundson (R-Buffalo).

If SB-206 becomes law, Montana will, in effect, observe Pacific Daylight Time for two-thirds of the year. When it’s noon in Seattle, it will be noon in Sidney, MT, near the border with North Dakota. Montana would be two hours behind North Dakota, one hour behind Wyoming, southern Idaho, and even parts of southeastern Oregon, and in clock-lock with Arizona.

Why the Farm Bureau opposes daylight saving time escapes me. At the committee hearing, the bureau’s representative said farmers work from sunup to sundown. That’s fine. But why should a guy on a tractor force people who work by the clock to lose an hour of daylight in the evening?

You can use the legislature’s universal messaging application to urge your blessing in the senate to kill SB-206.