Lawmakers in Maine’s House of Representatives voted unanimously on Monday to pass “An Act to Adopt Eastern Daylight Time Year-round Contingent on Federal Approval.” If ultimately signed into law, the measure would ditch the twice a year ritual of switching clocks one hour forward in the spring and back in the fall.
The bill, known as LD 3, from Senator Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) would be contingent on federal approval if it becomes state law. Sen. Bennett’s bill has two co-sponsors. They are Senator Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) and Representative Chris Kessler (D-Portland). The bipartisan support of the bill is largely why it received a bipartisan majority ought to pass from the State and Local Government Committee.
“Current law provides that the standard time year-round for the State is the time
commonly known as eastern daylight time, if federal law permits the year-round
observation of eastern daylight time and all the states in the eastern time zone and the
District of Columbia observe eastern daylight time year-round (and) will allow Maine to observe eastern daylight time year-round if federal law or regulation permits it,” the bill’s summary reads.
The debate around the time standard switch has been a regular staple of previous legislative sessions but has never become law. The discussion surrounding LD 3 this session has been ongoing since February.
[RELATED: A Thing of the Past? — Maine Lawmakers Consider Ditching Daylight Savings Time]
The bill now heads to the Senate where members may debate the merits and impact of the time standard change before voting on it. If the Senate passes the bill, it will head back to the House for a final enactment vote. An enactment vote is the final phase of legislative action in the House before the bill returns to the Senate for a second enactment vote. If the bill passes enactment votes in both chambers it will then head to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
