Unanimous consent is a way of agreeing on a matter before the Senate that sets aside normal procedure to expedite proceedings. “The Senate passage of a bill moving to permanent DST was largely an unexpected fluke,” said Bernell, adding that it was “passed by ‘unanimous consent’ in just a few seconds, when few Senators even knew what was happening.” This year, part of that discussion has been generated by the Senate’s passage of the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would make DST permanent nationwide. “Seeing it become part of the conversation again recently is not surprising,” Bernell said. “It would likely be disruptive and confusing for business, communications, travel, and other activities people engage in every day if the three west coast states were on two different time zones for part of the year.”Īccording to Bernell, this isn’t the first time permanent DST has been a topic of political discussion. “Oregon’s law makes sense,” said David Bernell, an associate professor of political science at Oregon State University.

However, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, this change is still pending. In 2018, California voters passed a measure that would allow the California State Legislature to move the state to a permanent DST, if the federal government allowed the change. Washington’s state legislature approved a bill in 2019 that would move the state to permanent DST. However, the bill cannot take effect until both Washington and California also move to permanent DST. “It died in committee,” Thatcher said, “but it did open a conversation about what people thought of the idea.” Senator Thatcher introduced a similar bill that didn’t pass in 2015, which she credits with encouraging discussion around the idea. “My constituents are tired of changing the clock twice per year,” said State Senator Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer), who sponsored the bill. The bill excludes the portion of Eastern Oregon in the Mountain Time Zone.

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