Texas lawmakers introduced two bills to the state Senate that would allow Texans to vote on whether to keep or abolish daylight saving time.
Texas Senator Paul Bettencourt, a Republican, introduced both Senate Bill 2329 and Senate Joint Resolution 86 on March 10.
This illustration photo shows a clock in the background of a smartphone showing the time after daylight saving time was enacted in Los Angeles, California, on March 15, 2022. (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
The bill states that if passed, “this state will observe daylight saving time year-round. This subsection applies to both the part of this state that uses Central Standard Time as the official standard time and the part of this state that uses mountain standard time used as the official standard time.”
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If passed by the Senate, the decision to abolish daylight saving time will pass to Texas voters on November 7, 2023.
Companion bills were also introduced, prepared by State House Representative Mike Schofield.
Neither Schofield nor Bettencourt could be reached for comment on Sunday.
Daylight saving time. Clock with spring bloomers (iStock)
FOX 26 in Houston reported that Bettencourt spoke about the importance and timeliness of the bill.
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“When you think of hot-button public policy issues, you usually think of things like property tax exemptions and school funding and pension reform. However, the issue of daylight saving time has been around for over 100 years,” Bettencourt said. , and the federal government is not giving us the option to vote to stay on standard time. SJR 86 gives Texans a chance to vote on the issue and settle the debate once and for all Texas.”
In March 2022, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The law would have ended the practice of moving clocks forward in the spring and back one hour in the fall.
Although the bill passed the Senate, then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, never put the legislation to a vote.
Earlier this month, Rubio re-enacted the Sunshine Protection Act.
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This ritual of changing the time twice a year is stupid,” he said in a press release. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope we can finally get this done.”
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