If you’re already perplexed by falling back and springing forward, a bipartisan bill in the Oregon Legislature may make it even more confusing.
The bill would institute year-round standard time in all of Oregon except the eastern portion that’s in the Mountain Time Zone. If passed, Oregon and Washington would be on the same schedule from roughly November to March (standard time), but Oregon would be an hour behind from March to November (currently daylight saving time for the two states).
The bill has powerful sponsors, too, including Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, and Co-Chair of the Ways & Means Committee Elizabeth Steiner, D-Portland, who is also running for state treasurer. The bill is in the Senate Committee on Veterans, Emergency Management, Federal and World Affairs. The next step for the bill is an 8 a.m. work session today.
About 65,000 Clark County residents commute to Portland daily, and about 17,000 commute in the opposite direction, according to the Washington Employment Security Department.
If you were commuting home to Clark County leaving Portland at 5:30 p.m. you could very well end up back home after 7:30 p.m. — an hour commute plus an hour time change. Conversely, travelers commuting into Portland will likely arrive earlier than when they left Washington.
A similar “ditch the switch” bill in the Washington Legislature already died this session.
If this all sounds familiar, it should. In 2019 both Oregon and Washington passed bills that would institute year-round daylight saving time, but Congress needs to approve a federal policy before those laws can take effect.
Under current federal law, states may adopt permanent standard time or may change their clocks twice a year. That’s how Hawaii and Arizona are able to maintain year-round standard time.
Experts say that switching times twice yearly, particularly in the spring, can have negative health effects. Research has linked the time changes with more car crashes, heart attacks in vulnerable people and other health problems.
If passed, it won’t be the first time the Beaver State and the Evergreen State were on different schedules. Before Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, clocks in Washington did not fall back and spring forward. Clocks in Oregon did, however.
This particularly affected those working on the Interstate 5 Bridge. For example, the toll collectors worked on Hayden Island in Oregon but were employed by Washington; the bridge operators were employed by Oregon and worked primarily just feet off the Washington shore. Eventually, it was decided that toll bridge operators would go on daylight saving time, but clocks above the toll plaza would remain on standard time.
