Multiple bills have been introduced over the years, but nothing has changed.
On Sunday, March 14, clocks will "spring forward" as we observe Daylight Saving Time (DST)—but not Arizona. And honestly, it's something we wish the rest of the country would do—especially for us Coloradans. We are, after all, in the same timezone (Mountain) as Arizona from November to March; it only makes sense!
Arizona hasn't observed DST in decades, and it's one of two states in the United States that doesn't do so—the other being Hawaii (this is because the islands are so close to the equator that they basically have the same amount of light year-round).
In September 2020, the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a survey and found that 71% of its respondents want to stop changing the clocks. "In all, 40% favored year-round standard time, while 31% said they’d prefer year-round daylight saving time," writes the Associated Press.
At this point, we don't care if Colorado goes the standard time year-round route or the DST route, we just want the back-and-forth BS to stop.
But, before we get into our reasons as to why Colorado should ditch the practice of changing the clocks, let's first answer the question that's probably on your mind, "why doesn't Arizona change its clocks?"
Easy. Weather and energy conservation.
In 1968, when the Arizona legislature asked to be exempt—and was eventually granted its request—a lot of it had to do with the extreme heat that's prevalent in the state. If Arizona were to be like the rest of us and "spring forward," the sun would stay out until about 9 p.m. during the summertime instead of 8 p.m., as it currently does.
According to a 1969 editorial in the Arizona Republic, "[Data] clearly show that we must wait until about 9 p.m. DST to start any night-time activity such as drive-in movies, moonlight rides, convincing little children it’s bedtime, etc. And it’s still hot as blazes!"
It's important to note that not all of Arizona is exempt from DST. The Navajo Indian Reservation observes the time change.
Okay, now we've answered that question, let's talk about why Colorado (and eventually, the rest of the United States) should stop changing the clocks.
Again, we drive the point home that for a large portion of the year, Colorado is in the same time zone as Arizona. Let's just keep things simple and not add more confusion. Cool? Cool.
Secondly, we argue that this could potentially save lives. Did you know that there's an increase of 6% in car accidents every year when we "spring forward"? Between the mornings getting darker and the evenings becoming brighter, our circadian rhythms get all out-of-whack. Then, when you mix in sleep deprivation and an early-morning commute with all of that, you get a higher likelihood of a car accident occurring.
Finally, we'd be saving energy. The U.S. Department of Energy in 2008 issued a report that showed the impact of a 4-week extended Daylight Saving Time. This extension would save roughly 0.5% of electricity per day for the entire United States—that's enough energy to power 100,000 households for an entire year! So just think about how much we could be saving should we all observe DST year-round ... mind-blowing, right? #Science.
There have been several bills introduced in Colorado over the years, with some dating back to 2015 (to the best of our knowledge, after some research). But none of them have made it very far, so Coloradans are stuck in this cycle of changing our clocks in March and November every single year. We think it's time to change that ...
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Daylight Saving Time ends on November 7, 2021.
