Time runs out on latest push to end Washington’s yearly clock changes

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A bill that would have moved Washington into permanent standard time looks to have failed in the state legislature for the second year in a row.

Senate Bill 5795 was spearheaded by a bipartisan group of 13 lawmakers, representing a quarter of the state Senate. Despite that, it failed to make the cutoff to get voted out of committee earlier this week.

If it had been passed, Washington would have rolled its clocks back in November of 2024, and then stayed in standard time for good after that.

The state first attempted to end its time changes when lawmakers passed a bill to stay in daylight saving time year-round in 2019. Washington has been stuck waiting on federal approval to enact that ever since. A shift to standard time does not require any such approval and would go into effect right away.

A permanent standard time bill has been introduced in each of the last two years as Washington has waited to end its yearly time changes, but to no avail.

One of the bills co-sponsors, Republican state Sen. Mike Padden, commented on the stalled progress this week.

“If there is one issue most people agree on, it’s the dislike of moving their clocks from standard time to daylight saving time in the spring and then back to standard time in the fall,” he told KIRO 7 in a written statement. “... It has been encouraging that so many people expressed support for this bill. Unfortunately, the chair of the State Government and Elections Committee, Senator Sam Hunt, after originally scheduling SB 5795 for a vote, chose not to bring up this bill for a vote before the Senate policy committee cutoff yesterday.”

“Unless something significant happens between now and the end of session, it appears that the ‘ditch the switch’ bill will need to wait till next year, which means that Washingtonians will be forced to continue switching between standard time and daylight saving time each year,” he added.

Padden points to several scientific studies “connecting several health problems with switching back and forth between standard time and daylight saving time.” That includes a higher risk of heart attacks and an increase in workplace injuries.

©2024 Cox Media Group