ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia representatives are joining senators in an effort to stop the twice annual change between standard time and daylight saving time.
Representatives voted 112-48 on Friday for House Bill 44, which would call for Georgia to permanently switch to daylight saving time if the U.S. Congress authorizes it. Permanent adoption of daylight saving time would mean another hour of light on winter evenings, but a sunrise that would come after 8 a.m. in Georgia on the shortest days.
“We can only move to daylight saving time permanently with congressional approval,” said Rep. Wes Cantrell, the Woodstock Republican sponsoring the bill.
Senators last week passed Senate Bill 100, which calls for Georgia to observe standard time year round, unless Congress votes to let states observe daylight saving time permanently. In that case, the bill calls for Georgia to observe daylight saving time 12 months a year.
Cantrell said he’s gotten complaints about that bill because people prefer having more daylight in the evening. Still, he said he wants to end the time change, calling it “almost universally despised.” He cited studies finding that car wrecks, medical errors and heart attacks rise after clocks spring forward or fall back.
