ATLANTA — A bill that would take Georgia out of the Eastern Time Zone and put us in the Atlantic Time Zone passed out of the state Senate on Tuesday.
That would make daylight saving time essentially permanent.
People like the idea of not having to switch back and forth, but may not like the idea of sunrise happening around 8:15 in the morning in the winter.
But like it or not, that bill is moving through the legislature.
Channel 2’s Richard Elliot spoke with street musician Joseph E. Reed about the idea. He hopes Georgia gets a permanent Daylight Saving Time because he doesn’t like the time change.
“It’s nice to somehow kind of get more daylight. It seems like, but the transitions are hectic on my body, it seems. Bounding back and forth this time,” Reed said.
Georgia is tired of changing its clocks. Enter Cornelia Republican state Sen. Bo Hatchett.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Major changes to medical marijuana law may be coming to Georgia
- Delta temporarily ends air travel perks for members of Congress as partial shutdown continues
- 40+ year old Georgia BBQ restaurant destroyed by fire
He knows Georgia can’t move permanently to Daylight Saving Time without an act of Congress, so he found a way around that.
He wants to ask the U.S. Department of Transportation to move Georgia out of the Eastern Time Zone and into the Atlantic Time Zone, thereby creating a kind of permanent Daylight Saving Time.
The Senate just approved it.
“We’re going to petition directly to the U.S. Department of Transportation to move us into the Atlantic Standard Time, which is the same time as we’re in now. It’s just called something different,” Hatchett told Elliot.
Some people hate the idea. School districts worry about kids catching the bus in the dark.
Airlines would have to shift schedules, and some businesses would have to adjust their hours.
But not Maurice Peoples. She hates falling back and springing forward every year.
“I’d rather it stick to one thing and keep it going. I don’t want to keep going back and forth because I get adjusted to one time, and then I have to switch back. It throws my whole day off,” Peoples said.
The bill will now head back to the full House for a vote, and you can bet there will be some opposition from businesses that rely on the time.