Law signed to end twice-yearly time change

Colorado is officially part of the growing coalition to stop changing the clock twice a year.

Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday signed “Daylight Saving Time Year Round,” House Bill 22-1297, into law. But that doesn’t mean an immediate end to standard-time tyranny. The law will keep Colorado locked in daylight saving time, which it is in now, only if a federal law is enacted to allow states the option and at least four other states in the Mountain Time Zone also opt for yearround daylight saving time.

The law “really moves the discussion forward,” Polis said, noting the stipulations attached to it.

“There is increasing consensus that just sort of arbitrarily switching the clocks twice a year is confusing and somewhat counterproductive for everybody and upsets people’s sleep cycles,” Polis said.

Bill sponsor Rep. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat, further called it a public health issue, with more car crashes, heart attack and strokes and mental health issues associated with mass circadian resets.

So far, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a measure in the spring to lock the nation’s clocks in at daylight saving time. An identical measure has been introduced in the House of Representatives, but no action has been taken.

However, the other metric is nearly met. Montana, Wyoming and Utah have adopted lock-theclock bills for permanent daylight saving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arizona, which is on federally allowed permanent standard time, New Mexico or southern Idaho would need to take action to check that box.

If Colorado were to stop moving its clocks around, sunrises and sunsets would each move by about three hours between the solstices. Under constant daylight saving time, sunrise wouldn’t be until 8 a.m. from about Nov. 30 until Feb. 8, although with a trade-off of the sun setting after 5 p.m.

The law is a culmination of more than a decade of effort by various lawmakers to lock the clock, although it typically faced opposition from the ski industry and airlines.

In addition to Kipp, it was sponsored by Castle Rock Republican Rep. Patrick Neville, Greenwood Village Democrat Sen. Jeff Bridges and Grand Junction Republican Sen. Ray Scott.