Daylight Saving Time

Tom Banse reports on efforts to make Daylight Saving Time permanent / Runtime: 1 minuteAn abrupt awakening in Congress is raising hopes on the West Coast…

Daylight saving time starts early Sunday morning, so remember to set your clocks ahead by an hour this weekend.That's despite the fact that Oregon and…

Washington state senators are trying a new gambit to stop the twice-yearly ritual of changing our clocks from standard time to daylight time and back again. A previous effort to move the whole West Coast onto permanent daylight saving time failed to win requisite congressional support. So now, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is pushing for Pacific Standard Time to be observed year-round.

Four things to know about Daylight Saving time.

Residents of the Northwest will have to set their clocks ahead by an hour this weekend to move onto daylight saving time. The Oregon and Washington legislatures voted nearly two years ago to stay on daylight time year-round -- joined later by Idaho and British Columbia -- but still the biannual time change ritual and associated grumbling persists.

Last year, the Oregon and Washington legislatures voted to observe daylight saving time year-round. Earlier this year, the Idaho Legislature voted to link the northern portion of Idaho, which follows Pacific time, to whatever time observance that Washington state follows. But we'll change our clocks this weekend anyway because Congress hasn't acted.

"What time is it here?" is a question few people feel the need to ask when crossing state lines in the Northwest. But a committee vote Wednesday in the Idaho Legislature raises the possibility that border cities in the Inland Northwest may observe time differently than their close neighbors as soon as next year.

Earlier this year, the Washington and Oregon legislatures voted by wide margins to ditch the twice-yearly time switch. Oregon's move is contingent on California getting on board too, which won't happen until next year at the earliest.

The movement to “ditch the switch” — the twice-yearly ritual of changing our clocks between daylight and standard time — just got a push from British Columbia, where residents signaled they are keen to join Washington state and Oregon on permanent daylight saving time.

Oregon lawmakers approved a measure on Thursday that could allow the state to adopt daylight saving time year-round. Washington legislators approved the change this year. In California, voters have approved year-round daylight saving time, but legislators have not signed off yet.