Legislature(2021 - 2022)GRUENBERG 120
05/18/2021 03:00 PM House STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB95 | |
| HB177 | |
| HB158 | |
| HB94 | |
| HB31 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 95 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 158 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 94 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 31 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 177 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 31-OBSERVE DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ALL YEAR
4:06:03 PM
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that the final order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 31, "An Act relating to daylight saving
time; and providing for an effective date."
4:06:54 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAN ORTIZ, Alaska State Legislature, prime
sponsor, introduced HB 31. He presented the sponsor statement
[included in the committee packet], which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
House Bill 31 establishes Daylight Saving Time (DST)
as the official time for the State of Alaska year-
round, subject to the authorization of federal law.
DST is observed between the second Sunday of March and
the first Sunday of November.
Adoption of this legislation is the first step. To
fully implement the change to full-time DST, action by
the United States Congress is required. Congress will
need to amend federal law to allow states to observe
DST throughout the calendar year.
Nationally, the initiative to change to full-time DST
is gaining traction. As of December 2020, 13 states
have enacted DST legislation. In 2020 alone, 32 states
considered DST legislation. On the west coast,
California voters authorized the change pending
legislation and in 2019, both Washington and Oregon
passed legislation similar to HB31.
Our Canadian neighbors have also taken steps to move
to full-time DST. British Columbia passed legislation
to implement full-time DST contingent on the U.S. west
coast also implementing it. Yukon began full-time DST
on March 8, 2020.
Because of our close economic and geographic ties to
the U.S. and Canadian west coasts, Alaska can avoid
being 'left in the dark' by passing HB31.
4:09:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN inquired about the benefits of switching
to Daylight Savings Time (DST).
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ recalled that there was a bill introduced
in a previous legislature that proposed switching to Standard
Time, which received pushback, particularly from the tourism
industry due to a concern about less daylight in the summertime
and consequently, a potential decline in economic opportunity.
He believed that there would be less pushback if the state were
to switch to DST; nonetheless, it would still impact certain
communities, such as those on the Aleutian Islands during the
wintertime.
4:11:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN sought to confirm that the proposed
legislation would align the state with its primary summertime
marketplace, the tourism industry, thus indicating a financial
bias.
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ confirmed.
4:12:27 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ in response to a question from
Representative Tarr, stated that if the bill were to pass,
Alaska would be on a three-hour time difference from the East
Coast for half of the year, and a four-hour time difference for
the other half. He clarified that Alaska would not roll back in
the fall to Standard Time, at which time, the East Coast would
roll back, so Alaska would be one hour closer.
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS asked whether the bill sponsor was familiar
with the history of time zone law in Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ answered, "Vaguely."
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS asked whether it was within the purview of
the legislature to determine which parts of the state were in
what time zone.
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ was unsure. He noted that the bill was
contingent on authorization from the federal government.
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS recalled that Alaska used to have multiple
time zones, which led him to believe that the legislature
consolidated those time zones.
4:16:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN shared his understanding that the state
must receive approval from the federal government to implement
changes to the time zone in different parts of the state;
however, he believed that the federal government tended to
approve those changes.
4:17:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN pointed out that the financial industry,
or other industries with strong ties to the East Coast, might
have concerns about this proposal.
REPRESENTATIVE ORTIZ agreed.
4:18:40 PM
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that HB 31 was held over.