Will Georgia ditch daylight saving time?
By Jonathan Raymond
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ATLANTA (WXIA) — A Georgia Senate bill passed on Monday has generated a lot of attention in the last 24 hours for its seemingly radical proposal: Move the Peach State to the Atlantic Time Zone.
The Atlantic zone is an hour ahead of Georgia’s current time zone, Eastern. The places that use Atlantic Time include the easternmost parts of Canada and some parts of the Caribbean, such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Putting Georgia in that time zone may seem like a puzzling arrangement. But let’s break it down in the simplest possible terms.
Also, an important note: It faces a long way from actually becoming reality. It still needs to pass the Georgia House, be signed by Governor Brian Kemp, and then be approved by the U.S. Transportation Secretary.
(It’s also important to note this bill lays out as a guiding preference observing Daylight Saving Time year-round in the Eastern Time Zone, and would default Georgia back to Eastern Time if permanent DST within the Eastern Time Zone were facilitated by Congress.)
Why would Georgia want to be in the Atlantic Time Zone?
Georgia senators voted overwhelmingly (45-5) to end the twice-a-year time change and preserve more evening daylight.
To that end, they’ve already passed a bill in recent years to put Georgia on year-round Daylight Saving Time, but —
States that pass permanent DST bills (and there are more than a few) need those laws ratified by Congress, but —
Congress hasn’t ratified them. However —
States can opt out of DST on their own. Arizona does this, for instance. So Georgia’s proposed workaround to get “permanent” DST would put the state an hour ahead to Atlantic Time and opting out of DST from there.
What’s the difference between permanent DST and opting out of DST from an hour-forward time zone?
Essentially none. The law only allows you to do one without Congress (opt out), not the other (permanently opt in). Thank the Uniform Time Act of 1966 for that quirk.
Why doesn’t Georgia just opt out of DST in the Eastern Time Zone?
As mentioned above, the Georgia proposal wants to maximize evening daylight.
If you’re not doing time changes while everyone else does, that means you’ll be aligned with two different time zones during the year: One during DST after the “spring forward” and a different one when DST ends and the “fall back” occurs.
If you opt out of DST from where you’re already at, you’ll spend part of the year aligned with your current time zone and part of the year aligned with the time zone behind you. This is what happens with Arizona, which is aligned with the Pacific Time Zone in the summer and the Mountain Time Zone in the winter. Technically, they’re on Mountain Standard Time all year, but that’s how it works out.
So, in the summer months, Georgia would be aligned with the Central Time Zone if it simply opted out of DST.
Instead, what the state Senate lawmakers want to do is be aligned with the Eastern Time Zone during the summer and then be an hour ahead, with the Atlantic Time Zone, in the winter. This provides more daylight at night.
I’m still confused, just show me the times
Fair enough!
It’s just about how you flip-flop, really. The Senate bill would flip-flop from an hour ahead in the new time zone, while Arizona flip-flops from exactly where it’s at.
Right now it’s 9:30 a.m. in Atlanta, in the Eastern Time Zone. In the Atlantic Time Zone, under DST, it would be 10:30 a.m.
Come winter, when DST ends, Atlantic Time Zone locations that observe DST would “fall back” to 9:30 a.m. In Atlanta, where there would theoretically be no DST changes throughout the year, it would simply stay 9:30 a.m. New York City, meanwhile, would “fall back” to 8:30 a.m.
So, again, in summer it would be: Atlanta 9:30 a.m., New York 9:30 a.m. In winter, it would be Atlanta 9:30 a.m., New York 8:30 a.m.
In Bermuda, which observes DST, it’s 10:30 a.m. right now. So once more, for illustration, in summer it would be: Atlanta 9:30 a.m., Bermuda 10:30 a.m. In winter, it would be Atlanta 9:30 a.m., Bermuda 9:30 a.m.
What’s the argument against doing this?
There are two main arguments, really. One was raised in the state Senate yesterday by Senator Ed Setzler, who raised concerns about “chaos” for business and logistics if Georgia moved on its own when none of the rest of the East Coast does.
The other is about safety. The flip side of more evening daylight is less morning daylight during rush hour. There is research, most often cited from a University of Colorado study, that car crashes increase during DST after it extends morning darkness. That Colorado study found a 6% spike in fatal crashes nationwide in the week after “spring forward.”
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