It’s time to do away with the bi-annual ritual of changing clocks as it only inconveniences people and does not serve the purpose anymore, lawmakers think.

A bill seeking to keep clocks consistent throughout the year in Washington State was pre-filed on Friday. The bill has been sponsored by state senators Sam Hunt, Jim Honeyford, and Kevin Van De Wege.

In favor of abolishing daylight saving, the bill states: “The legislature finds that the state of Washington would benefit from the consistency and predictability of observing a standard time throughout the calendar year.”

The bill cites research to put forth its defense:

• Changing to and from daylight saving time twice per year has negative impacts on public health.
• Scientific studies have connected a number of health consequences with the act of switching between standard time and daylight saving time, including greater risks of heart attacks, more frequent workplace injuries, and increased suicide rates in the days immediately following the switch.
• It increases traffic accidents and crime
• Disrupts agriculture scheduling
• Hinders economic growth.

Florida, California, Georgia are among others states that may join the “off with the daylight saving time” bandwagon. So much so that the European Union too proclaimed that it would consider abolishing the time-change.

The permanent time will actually be Pacific Standard Time plus one hour, once the bill is passed and becomes a law. The bill further states that “this act takes effect on the second Sunday in March in the year following the effective date of legislation passed by the United States Congress amending 15 U.S.C. Secs. 260a to authorize states to observe daylight saving time year round.” That is once the legislature passes the bill, the change will take effect the second Sunday in March of the following year.

The bill was said to have introduced in last year’s session too. However, it wasn’t passed. It remains to be seen if this pre-filed bill will be given the go-ahead in this 2019 session.