SACRAMENTO, Calif. — If Californians got everything they ever voted for, Northern and Southern California would’ve become separate states more than a century ago, there’d be a bullet train connecting the two, and you wouldn’t have to adjust your watch twice a year to catch it.
But that’s fantasy land.
Here in reality, we can see plainly that voting for a thing and having that thing actually happen are two entirely different concepts. Case in point: the overwhelming victory of 2018’s Prop 7. Sixty percent of California voters decided that they definitely do not want to change the clocks twice a year for daylight saving time.
The measure was sold as a way to keep the sun shining later in the evening year-round by placing California on Pacific Daylight Time (or, if you prefer, Mountain Standard Time) all year. But, as some of us tried to warn you before the election, there’s a complication: the United States Congress.
Congress has authority over time zones and would need to pass a law to allow California voters to have their way.
Here’s where things stand now:
WE’RE STUCK WITH TIME CHANGES UNTIL AT LEAST SPRING OF 2020
The California State Legislature has to change California state laws before California goes begging Congress to let us make this change.
And it’s a higher hurdle than most laws passed at the state Capitol, this particular law requires a 2/3 vote to pass. That’s fairly likely to happen because guess who gave all of those state lawmakers their jobs? California voters.
What did California voters say they wanted by a 60-40 margin, again? To end time changes. Assembly Bill 7 is the bill to watch this year. It has yet to get its first hearing, but importantly, it specifies that California’s final time change will come after the effective date set by Congress.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF PASSING A FEDERAL LAW FOR CALIFORNIA?
Modifying California’s time zone is nowhere near a top priority for Congress right now. And it will likely never be.
That’s not to say the idea is impossible, but it’s worth bearing in mind that 90 percent of the people in the U.S. Capitol do not come from the great state of California. They’re pretty busy fighting over immigration and oversight of the Trump administration.
There are forces opposed to the idea of modifying time zones. The shipping industry has historically opposed measures that allow individual states to adopt different time standards.
If, somehow, Congress does pass a bill to allow California to change its time zone, there’s at least some indication that President Trump might sign it. While he’s a frequent critic of California, he also campaigned as being in favor of state’s rights.
If he’ll let states smoke pot because he’s a “states person,” maybe he’s also okay with letting states set the clocks how they want to.
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Federal law does not allow a year-round DST, but states can opt of DST and remain on standard time all year.