Oregon bill to adopt permanent Pacific Standard Time fails, for now, in Senate

A bill to adopt permanent Pacific Standard Time time in Oregon is being sent back to committee for changes after Oregon Senators expressed concerns.

Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, introduced Senate Bill 1548 to “ditch the switch” without having to wait for the federal government to grant permission. A bill in 2019 passed in Oregon and Washington to make daylight saving time permanent in the state but has stalled after California's required similar effort failed to pass. Efforts in the U.S. Congress have similarly stalled.

Thatcher urged support Tuesday from senators and said in the five years since the 2019 bill passed, momentum has shifted to favor standard time instead.

Oregon could be a leader in adopting the change, she said. Bills in California and Idaho have been introduced. A similar bill in Washington failed to make it out of committee.

The bill failed in a tight 15-15 vote.

Thatcher changed her vote from yes to no to allow for possible reconsideration. In a 28-2 vote, Senators approved a second vote to refer the bill back to the Committee on Rules to amend the bill to add a trigger that the change would not occur without similar changes in neighboring states.

Both Democrat and Republican senators expressed hesitation in supporting the change.

Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, said he was voting no because part of his district near Idaho is in Mountain Time and constituents were concerned that the bill would cause “a whole lot of disruption.”

Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, said he had similar concerns.

Portland residents would face an hour difference between southwest Washington and Vancouver for two-thirds of the year, Dembrow said, and Oregonians in other parts of the state would face a two-hour difference with neighbors in the Mountain zone.

He said he was eager to stop switching the clock but had to oppose the bill without a guarantee that neighboring states would follow.

“I don’t think that this measure is the right way to do it,” Dembrow said. “Its big flaw is that it doesn’t have a built-in trigger connecting to neighboring states.”

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon's daylight saving time bill fails in Senate — for now