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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A bill that would have mandated permanent standard time by doing away with daylight savings time (DST) in Tennessee is dead for this year’s legislative session.
Sponsored by Representative Chris Todd (R-Madison County-District 73), House Bill 1300 as amended was taken off notice in the House State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday following the companion bill failing in the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday.
While the Tennessee General Assembly passed a trigger law in 2019 that would allow the state to observe DST all year in the event that the United States Congress passed a measure to allow states to have that ability, to date, no such law has been enacted which leaves states with only the option of exempting themselves from DST.
To that end, HB1300 would have ended the twice yearly changing of clocks that Tennesseans currently practice, eliminating the annual “spring forward” into DST and “fall back” to standard time.
During discussion on the bill on Tuesday, the consensus among Senators on the committee was that the permanent adoption of DST would be much preferred over standard time, but as Senator Adam Lowe reminded his colleagues, that would take an act of congress.
The bill ultimately failed in the Senate State and Local Government Committee when only the bill’s sponsor voted in favor, and NO votes coming from Republican Senators Adam Lowe, Kerry Roberts and Page Walley with Senators Richard Briggs and Tom Hatcher counted as present but not voting.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
