As daylight saving time begins Sunday, so does another effort to make it permanent in the U.S.
In New York, state Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) and Assemb. Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) last November submitted a bill to keep daylight saving time all year. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
No one seems to be quite sure who invented the twice-yearly clock switch that springs us forward Sunday.
It could have been Benjamin Franklin in 1784 or it might have been a scientific paper presented in New Zealand a century or so later, according to the TimeandDate website.
The March-November system the United States now follows began in 2007. For years, the nation observed daylight saving time from the first Sunday of April to the last Sunday of October.
Last March, 804 New Yorkers told Siena College pollsters they backed making daylight saving time permanent, by 67% to 25% (with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2% percentage points).
Various federal bills to rid the country of what so many see as a nuisance — and some experts say raises the risks of strokes, heart attacks and car crashes — have stalled over the years. Two days ago, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) again introduced such a bill.
Calling the United States one the few nations sticking with this “ritual,” he added: “That makes no sense. It’s time to end it. I think we should pick one and stick with it.” He advocates keeping daylight saving time all year.
Last year, the U.S. Senate approved the same bill — but it died in the House.
In almost every state, at least 450 bills and resolutions have been considered, “but none of significance passed until 2018, when Florida became the first state to enact legislation to permanently observe Daylight Saving Time, pending amendment of federal law to permit such action,” the National Conference of State Legislatures said in a 2022 report.
And 19 states have enacted bills or resolutions calling for one permanent time — but, the group said, Congress first would have to act.
In New York, state Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) and Assemb. Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) last November submitted a bill to keep daylight saving time all year.
Pointing to the complexities that might arise if different states began using different time clocks, they said their measure depended on “states that border New York passing legislation similar to their bill.”
As for how other creatures respond to the clock change, the sole Long Island raw milk farmer said his Jersey cows would handle the switch with ease
When the milkers show up past their usual time, the 22 Jerseys at Ty Llwyd Farm in Riverhead “don’t mind an hour or two much, because my cows are not making tremendous amounts of milk,” explained Chris Wines, whose family farm began in 1870.
Other animals may be focused on springtime rituals.
Said Janine Bendicksen, director of wildlife rehabilitation at Smithtown’s Sweetbriar Nature Rescue: “Since animals cannot read a clock, I don’t think they really have any reaction to daylight saving time — they do, however, respond to longer daylight hours and most go into breeding mode.”
Experts at Tufts’ veterinary medicine school say they’ve observed that most animals do not seem to notice the time change, though they agree spring’s increasing sunlight makes a difference.
In an email, Thomas Jenei, director of the Hospital for Large Animals and clinical associate professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, said: “It is the day length, not the time of sunrise that is the key element, for example horses’ reproductive behavior is affected by the length of day. They typically enter a period of anestrus in the winter when they do not ovulate. As the day length gets longer, they will start to cycle again."
No one seems to be quite sure who invented the twice-yearly clock switch that springs us forward Sunday.
It could have been Benjamin Franklin in 1784 or it might have been a scientific paper presented in New Zealand a century or so later, according to the TimeandDate website.
The March-November system the United States now follows began in 2007. For years, the nation observed daylight saving time from the first Sunday of April to the last Sunday of October.
Last March, 804 New Yorkers told Siena College pollsters they backed making daylight saving time permanent, by 67% to 25% (with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2% percentage points).
Various federal bills to rid the country of what so many see as a nuisance — and some experts say raises the risks of strokes, heart attacks and car crashes — have stalled over the years. Two days ago, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) again introduced such a bill.
Calling the United States one the few nations sticking with this “ritual,” he added: “That makes no sense. It’s time to end it. I think we should pick one and stick with it.” He advocates keeping daylight saving time all year.
Last year, the U.S. Senate approved the same bill — but it died in the House.
In almost every state, at least 450 bills and resolutions have been considered, “but none of significance passed until 2018, when Florida became the first state to enact legislation to permanently observe Daylight Saving Time, pending amendment of federal law to permit such action,” the National Conference of State Legislatures said in a 2022 report.
And 19 states have enacted bills or resolutions calling for one permanent time — but, the group said, Congress first would have to act.
In New York, state Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) and Assemb. Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) last November submitted a bill to keep daylight saving time all year.
Pointing to the complexities that might arise if different states began using different time clocks, they said their measure depended on “states that border New York passing legislation similar to their bill.”
As for how other creatures respond to the clock change, the sole Long Island raw milk farmer said his Jersey cows would handle the switch with ease
When the milkers show up past their usual time, the 22 Jerseys at Ty Llwyd Farm in Riverhead “don’t mind an hour or two much, because my cows are not making tremendous amounts of milk,” explained Chris Wines, whose family farm began in 1870.
Other animals may be focused on springtime rituals.
Said Janine Bendicksen, director of wildlife rehabilitation at Smithtown’s Sweetbriar Nature Rescue: “Since animals cannot read a clock, I don’t think they really have any reaction to daylight saving time — they do, however, respond to longer daylight hours and most go into breeding mode.”
Experts at Tufts’ veterinary medicine school say they’ve observed that most animals do not seem to notice the time change, though they agree spring’s increasing sunlight makes a difference.
In an email, Thomas Jenei, director of the Hospital for Large Animals and clinical associate professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, said: “It is the day length, not the time of sunrise that is the key element, for example horses’ reproductive behavior is affected by the length of day. They typically enter a period of anestrus in the winter when they do not ovulate. As the day length gets longer, they will start to cycle again."
Forecast for Thanksgiving travel, weather ... Car hits West Babylon house ... Drought effect on LI ... Getting ready for big parade
Forecast for Thanksgiving travel, weather ... Car hits West Babylon house ... Drought effect on LI ... Getting ready for big parade
