BOZEMAN - We moved our clocks forward an hour just this week. Many of us still recovering from that hour lost several days in, but a bill making its way through Congress would make changing our clocks a thing of the past.
“I think its really jarring to a community,” says teacher, Michaella Croskey.
The Sunshine Protection Bill would make Daylight Savings time permanent, meaning we would stay on the time we just moved forward to all year round. As a teacher, Croskey is in favor of getting rid of the time changes.
“I like whatever is the most natural,” says Croskey.
Other people that we talked to, said they didn’t like the time change.
How would this look in Bozeman? In the summer the run rises a little after 5:30 a.m. and sets a little after 9:15 p.m. Here you wouldn’t notice much of a difference because this is the daylight savings which we are currently in, where you will notice the difference is in the winter. The sun rises just a little after 8 a.m. and sets around 4:40 p.m., with permanent daylight savings that would mean that sunrise and sunset would be and hour later so that would mean a sunrise just after 9 a.m. and a sunset around 5:40 p.m.
“That classic change, we did that this last weekend, so it makes a difference on a Monday and it throws kids off, they’ve already endured enough change in the last 2 years,” says Croskey.
Montana is no stranger to this - just last year Governor Gianforte signed a bill that would make daylight savings permanent in the state.
The Senate passed the bill unanimously. In a Statement to MTN News Senator Daines (R-MT) said “Will be good to skip the hassle of changing the clocks!”
Senator Tester (D-MT) said, “The sun will continue to rise and set each day, and making daylight saving time permanent will give folks more consistency and less hassle.”
Now that the bill has passed the senate it heads to the house if it passes there then it’ll head to President Biden for final approval. If the bill becomes law it would take effect in November of 2023.
