Time change:

The proposal for California to have permanent daylight-saving time is far from resolved.

SACRAMENTO — California voters resoundingly said they want year-round daylightsaving time. Whether they will ever see the light of day later in winter is another story.

Proposition 7, which supported eliminating the biannual tradition of setting clocks forward an hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall, was approved by 60 percent of voters on Tuesday — by coincidence, just two days after the November change to standard time. But while supporters posted their joyous reactions on social media that daylight-saving time was kaput, Prop. 7 doesn’t actually do that.

Asking voters was the first step. Now, the Legislature is on the clock. Lawmakers would have to approve a bill authorizing the switch in a two-thirds vote in both houses, a difficult threshold for most legislation.

The backer of the time-change ballot mea-

sure, Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, said he plans to introduce a bill in December or January.

If it passes, the bill would have to be signed by the state’s next governor, Gavin Newsom, before it could spring forward for one final sign-off — from Congress.

Until then, the clocks will keep changing in March and November.

“California voters have spoken, and they agree that the practice of switching our clocks twice a year is unnecessary,” Chu said.

Chu says going to daylightsaving time year round is less about convenience than public health. A 2014 study in the journal Open Heart found the loss of an hour’s sleep as part of the springtime switch raised the risk of heart attack by 25 percent. Other studies have found additional problems caused by the twice-yearly changes in sleep patterns.

“I introduced the legislation that put Prop. 7 on the ballot because I believe in data that proves the negative health and public safety impacts and the lack of energy saving benefits,” Chu said Wednesday.

Opponents say people won’t be so enthusiastic about yearround time stasis when the winter solstice sunrise happens at 8:30 a.m. There are only so many hours of sunshine in a day, they point out, and no legislative bill can change that.

Lawmakers could vote to join Hawaii and Arizona on standard time year round, which would not require congressional approval. But that would mean less summertime sunlight in the evening, a probable political loser.

Instead, Chu is attempting the “circuitous path” — as Gov. Jerry Brown called it — to create permanent daylightsaving time.

“It’s curious,” said Brown, whose signature on Chu’s bill placed Prop. 7 on the ballot. “I signed it, but I’m not going to tell you how I voted.”

Brown said he’s a fan of daylight-saving time. His signing message in placing the proposition on the ballot read, “Fiat Lux!” which is Latin for, “Let there be light!”

“I kind of like the idea,” Brown said. “I kind of look forward to daylight-savings time. And then when it’s over, it gets me ready for the winter.”