Sun setting on daylight saving time? States consider alternative to clock-changing ‘hassle’

A worker adjusts the hands on a stainless steel tower clock in Medfield, Mass., in this March 7, 2014 file photo. (AP)

States across the country are taking a dim view toward daylight saving time. And some say it's time to turn back the clock -- so to speak.

Lawmakers in 10 states have proposed legislation challenging what, for many, is a twice-a-year headache, and one they just endured again earlier this month. The new bills would mostly have states pick a time ... and stay on that time.

"Every time you have the spring forward or fall back, you get in the coffee shops, churches and everybody's complaining about it and all of a sudden it dawned on me it is kind of a hassle," said Texas state Rep. Dan Flynn, who proposed a bill that would place the entire state of Texas on central standard time year-round.

Beginning in 1966, every state in the country except Arizona and Hawaii started adjusting their clocks under the Uniform Act that permanently established daylight saving time nationwide.

States move their clock back one hour in the fall and one hour ahead in the spring in an effort to "save daylight" with later sunrises and sunsets.

But the practice has been scrutinized since its inception.

In Illinois, state Republican Rep. Bill Mitchell submitted a proposal that calls for the state to stay on daylight saving time year-round.

"It's always been a pain and a group of citizens came to me and said 'Hey we should do daylight throughout the whole year,'" Mitchell told Fox News.

Proponents of scrapping daylight saving time say it's generally unnecessary, disturbs sleep patterns and has recently become even more complicated. In 1986, Congress extended daylight saving from a six- to seven-month period and extended it again in 2005 to eight months -- mid-March to mid-November.

"Congress really gave us a wise compromise in 1966 with six months of standard time, but because of the lobbies on behalf of daylight we now spring forward in the middle of the winter," said Michael Downing, author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving."

Elected officials in 10 states have proposed legislation that would opt their states out of daylight saving time including Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

The officials all cite different reasons from health to safety concerns. Some just consider the practice pointless and antiquated.

"It's like the Native American proverb -- if you cut a foot off the top of your blanket and attach it to the bottom, you didn't lengthen your blanket," Flynn said.

Downing, though, says keeping track of a standard clock nationwide could become extremely difficult if each state starts adjusting its own time.

"Once individual states start to change their clocks in innovative ways, it's no longer predictable to transportation, communication and broadcasters," Downing said. "There starts to be real costs that start to accrue as a result."

The author says the disagreement among states isn't new. In 1965, before the Uniform Act was passed, 71 major cities in the U.S. with a population of over 100,000 were using daylight saving while 59 others were not.

"No one knew what time it was," Downing said. "It does look like we're falling back, we have no consistency even in the proposals."

Downing suggests the best option could be to revert to the original six-month plan.

"Time zones, which are really are the basis of transportation and communication around the world, are in peril," he said.

Flynn, however, thinks switching time for daylight saving should be abandoned altogether.

"People do not like the hassle of adjusting their clocks twice a year," he said.

Still, despite the opposition, there are some fans of daylight saving, because of the economic and health benefits of extra light in the evening.

"I love it," said Mary Jobs, of Las Vegas. "I get to go home and still have light to walk my dog."