Spring forward and never fall back? Here’s what permanent daylight saving time could look like in Georgia

ATLANTA — This weekend, we move our clocks forward one hour to begin daylight saving time.

State lawmakers are currently debating whether the change should be made permanent.

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Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston was at the Capitol, where the House passed a bill Friday to stay on daylight saving time year-round.

Huddleston has covered Republican Rep. Wes Cantrell’s push to stop changing the clocks for two years, and now, there’s a chance it could pass.

The U.S. Congress will ultimately have to decide if the change to daylight saving time would be permanent.

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Georgia isn’t the only state in the southeast that is pushing to permanently stay on daylight saving time.

Cantrell said five others are doing the same thing.

“Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas have passed similar legislation, so if and when we go to daylight saving time permanently, pretty much the entire southeast is going together,” Cantrell said. “I think it would be odder if we didn’t make the adjustment with the other states around us.”

One concern for Georgia is how the time change could impact Atlanta’s airport, which is the busiest in the world.

Huddleston talked to airport officials, who said they deal with so many time zones now, the problem could be solved with just a few adjustments.

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“There would be minor modifications to departure times for some overnight international flights, but the effect on operations would be negligible,” an official said.

Not everyone is excited about the prospect of switching to daylight saving time year-round. An opposing bill suggests dropping daylight saving time entirely in favor of year-round standard time

Diane Shackelford is in the group Save Standard Time, which is pushing to drop the time change, but wants the opposite of what the current bill proposes.

Shackelford said it was really hard changing the clock when her kids were in school.

“I had to stand out at the bus stop in the dark nearly 20 years,” Shackelford said. “We have trouble going to sleep at night because it’s light later. We also have trouble waking up because it is dark.”

Cantrell said Congress will only consider the proposal to stay on standard time after they consider the bill to stay on daylight saving time.

Time to ‘spring forward’ - Daylight saving time 2021 (NCD)