Senator looking to put an end to twice-a-year time adjustments

Nov. 6—As state Sen. Michael Padilla sees it, adjusting watches and clocks twice a year is a pain.

"I feel like we lose something when we lose the hour [in the spring]," the Albuquerque Democrat said. But, he confessed, "I look forward to the night when I get an extra hour's sleep."

Here's some good news for Padilla and others who look forward to that extra hour of sleep in the fall: It's this weekend. New Mexico returns to Mountain Standard Time at 2 a.m. Sunday.

For others who are fed up with the twice-a-year ritual of adjusting to a time change, Roswell Republican Sen. Cliff Pirtle is once again planning to introduce legislation to lock the clock into permanent daylight saving time.

Forget about education, crime or the economy. Pirtle said time is "the No. 1 issue, the one issue that directly affects every single person — good, bad or indifferent."

Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, agrees with Pirtle's plan to stick to daylight saving time all year long.

"We will get more emails and calls on this bill than any other bill in the entire Legislature," he predicted, based on legislation introduced in the past.

Pirtle has tried repeatedly to get bills passed establishing permanent daylight saving time in New Mexico. He might have a better chance this year. Not only are some state lawmakers who were previously skeptical of the idea — like Padilla — more open to considering it, but there is a growing national movement to get the entire nation to adopt a steady time.

Neighboring state Arizona has long remained on Mountain Standard Time year-round. Colorado's governor recently signed a bill establishing year-round daylight saving time, contingent on federal legislation.

Other states are slowly enacting similar legislation or considering it in the coming year.

The U.S. Senate has approved the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent for the nation. However, the bill has stalled in the House of Representatives.

Pirtle is hoping other states in the West will adopt a permanent time pattern, establishing at least a regional collective of states that could more easily adjust to changes that would come with such a move. Those states could then petition the federal government for approval to move to a collective daylight saving initiative, he said.

If enough states — 30 to 35 by Pirtle's estimate — want a standard time, the federal government "will have to act," he said.

Concerns raised about Pirtle's previous bills often have centered on how the change would affect trade across state lines and people living near state borders who might cross lines to go to work.

Pirtle argues New Mexico residents could adapt, and the extra hour of sunlight in the evening could increase tourism and lead to better profits for businesses as people venture out more.

"There's something about it being dark that you just want to go home, plop down in front of the TV and chow down," Pirtle said.

Pirtle, a farmer, said the change would give him more daylight to tend to the farm or play with his children.

There's also the potential for mental health benefits, he said.

A 2017 study published in Epidemiology looked at more than 185,000 hospital contacts for depression and found the fall time change increased the number of hospital visits for the condition by 11 percent — perhaps because of additional stress brought on by an earlier sunset.

The National Institute of Mental Health has reported the onset of shorter days also can increase instances of seasonal affective disorder.

The change could have positive public safety implications as well.

A 2020 University of Boulder study published in Current Biology found the annual "spring forward" is associated with a 6 percent increase in fatal car crashes. The report's researchers analyzed 732,835 accidents recorded through the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 1996 to 2017.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation has no data directly linking the time change to traffic accidents but provided 2020 data Friday showing crashes in the dark "represent a disproportionate share of fatal crashes."

Pirtle's planned initiative could be one of "multiple bills on this issue in the upcoming 60-day session," Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, wrote in an email Friday.

"It's a hard vote because there are strong arguments for making daylight savings permanent, strong arguments for sticking with standard time year-round and strong arguments keeping the system as it is now," he wrote.

Padilla said he is more open to the idea of supporting a move to daylight saving time with the understanding the state would not actually initiate that move "until the federal government adopts it."

Whitney Holland, president of the American Federation of Teachers of New Mexico, said she is open to the idea and hopes it will lead to a more in-depth discussion of school calendars and schedules.

"I also recognize as a classroom teacher that the Monday after the time change was always a difficult day to teach, and I am a fan of anything that eliminates stressors for our educators and students," she said.

Scott Yates, who runs a Colorado-based blog called #LocktheClock, recently testified with Pirtle before the legislative Economic Development and Policy Committee. He said he thinks the days of adhering to the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandated daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, are probably coming to an end.

He sees the issue of time through a philosophical lens.

"When you think about what time is, it's just an agreement between people," he said. "We come together to say, 'This is what 10 a.m. is,' so when someone asks you, 'What time does your flight leave?' you don't have to say, 'Oh, when the sun lifts this far above the horizon.' "