Bill would make Montana exempt from daylight saving time

HELENA — Ryan Osmundson said he didn’t give the suggestion much of a chance when constituents groused to him that they didn’t like changing the clocks because of daylight saving time and asked him to do something about it.

He said Friday he was a surprised as anyone to see his Montana Standard Time bill progress, making the state exempt from daylight saving time.

“I didn’t take a poll,” he said, adding he thought he would run it by fellow lawmakers and see what happens.

“It was a simple bill,” the Buffalo Republican said. “Surprisingly, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback.”

Senate Bill 206 is a one-page proposal that includes the names of 29 other lawmakers from the House and Senate who support the idea. It lets the state remain on Mountain Standard Time.

It passed its third and final reading in the Senate on Wednesday with a 36-14 vote and is now heading toward the House. Osmundson said he does not expect that body to vote on it before March 12.

Daylight saving time adds one hour to standard time to make better use of daylight and conserving energy, according to the website timeanddate.com. It was first used in Ontario, Canada, in 1908. It was used in the United States as early as 1918 during World War I to support the war effort.

According to timeanddate.com, from 1945-1966 there were no uniform rules for daylight saving time in the United States and it caused confusion especially for mass transit and the broadcasting industry.

The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was established by Congress and set that daylight saving time would begin on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October.

Osmundson said advantages may be that fireworks shows can get an earlier start as it will get darker sooner.

For Rick Enge of Great Falls, it means getting out of about three days of work.

That’s how long it takes him and others at the World of Time on Central Avenue in Great Falls to reset nearly 500 clocks when the time change occurs.

It also brings him some business.

“We get a lot of customers who will goof up their clocks while trying to set them or the clocks are digital and they do not know how to set them,” Enge said.

He added he is not a proponent of one time zone over another. He said the vast majority of responses from customers is that they wish the government would stop mandating time changes.

“I don’t care which way they go, I just wish they would change it to one way or another,” Enge said.

Rhiannon Archambault is a waitress at Tracy’s Family Restaurant in downtown Great Falls.

She doesn’t have a strong opinion on pulling the plug on daylight saving time.

“I love gaining an hour of sleep,” she said. “But losing an hour sucks, especially if you have to work.”