Bill to make daylight saving time permanent in Georgia passes House

ATLANTA — The Georgia House has advanced a bill that would keep the state on daylight saving time permanently.

The House voted 112-48 to approve House Bill 44 on Friday.

Another bill proposing Georgia drop the switch from standard time to daylight saving time was introduced in 2020.

Last year, Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston talked to Cherokee County Rep. Wes Cantrell-R, who sponsored the bill in 2020 as well as HB 44 this year.

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Cantrell argues that safety is just one reason to stop switching time back and forth.

“You have fewer car accidents,” Cantrell said. “The majority of car accidents happen between 6 and 9 p.m. in the dark. One hour of daylight in the evening would mitigate this somewhat.”

Cantrell also said that making the switch could reduce crime.

“Criminals like the cloak of darkness, so they have one less hour in the evening to commit their crimes,” Cantrell said.

If the bill were to be passed in the Senate and become state law, it would still require an act of Congress to allow states to drop the time change permanently. Current federal law prohibits states from observing daylight saving time year-round.

In the last three years, 13 states have enacted legislation to provide for year-round daylight saving time, including Georgia.

This year, daylight saving time begins on March 14 at 2 a.m., when most of America will “spring forward.”

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