Bipartisan bill to end daylight saving in Wisconsin introduced in state Legislature

A majority of the U.S. populace favors ending daylight saving. Wisconsin began the practice in 1957 after a statewide referendum.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

Tired of springing forward or falling back? Recently proposed legislation would end the practice of daylight saving time in Wisconsin. 

Rep. Nate Gustafson (R-Fox Crossing) introduced the Assembly’s version of the bill in April alongside a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The bill was referred to a committee April 2.

The bill notes that federal law generally bans states from deviating from standard time or eliminating daylight saving time, but allows a state that lies entirely in one timezone, as Wisconsin does, to observe standard time instead of daylight saving time as long as its throughout the whole state.

In the U.S., 48 states, including D.C., but not Arizona and Hawaii, observe daylight saving time, which means that people set their clocks forward by one hour in the spring.

Benjamin Franklin invented the concept in order to better utilize daylight hours during the warmer months, and the system was adopted during World War I to conserve energy. 

A March Gallup poll showed that more than half of Americans favor separating from the centuries-old practice. 

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, a trade group, is the only organization lobbying against the bill, according to the state’s lobbying website. No one is officially lobbying for it.

Hundreds of bills are introduced in the Wisconsin State Legislature every session, but only a fraction are signed into law.

This is the first time Wisconsin legislators have proposed eliminating the timing convention this century, said Madeline Kasper, a managing analyst at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. 

A similar bill that would end the practice at the national level is regularly introduced in Congress, including this year.

Most countries in the world do not observe daylight saving time, and those that do are mostly in Europe.

Wisconsin began the practice in 1957 after a statewide referendum.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.