Time change bill could change time zones, too

The House of Representatives’ State Affairs and Finance committee will next consider Senate Bill 6 passed by the Alaska Senate by a vote of 16-4 on March 11, which would end daylight saving time.

In an opinion piece today, penned by bill sponsor Anchorage Republican Senator Anna MacKinnon and sent to the Frontiersman, she says it’s the health impacts of the time change that concern her.

She also cites her recent survey of 3,700 Alaskans on daylight saving time that show 78 percent in favor of repeal.

As we understand Alaska history, it was U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens who pushed to adopt the change to minimize the time difference between the location of his office — Washington, D.C. — and the location of the people he served — Alaska.

Though email and the Internet have changed how we communicate, they are no substitute for being able to pick up the phone and call your Congressional Delegation for assistance, or to voice concerns.

MacKinnon says people concerned about what the change would mean for businesses, government agencies and individuals make valid points. But she is not swayed.

“The primary reason I support the repeal of daylight saving time is in response to the growing amount of research that suggests negative health causes and effects,” she said before going on to cite a sampling of research to support her claim.

While most folks we’ve talked to about this support the move away from daylight saving time, many seem unaware of the second action the bill’s passage would set in motion. This bill also sets the ball in motion for a move that could place all or part of Alaska within the Pacific Standard Time zone.

Here’s the language for SB 6 “An Act exempting the state from daylight saving time; petitioning the United States Department of Transportation to change the time zones of Alaska; and providing for an effective date.”

If approved by the Legislature, the time change would begin in January 2017.

But what about this petition to change Alaska’s time zones? This understated clause would quietly undo years of work to create a more manageable set of time zones for our vast state.

Mathematically speaking, Alaska is large enough to encompass four time zones, but since 1983 political and logistical considerations have led to the use of two — Alaska Time Zone and the Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time.

Both of these questions — daylight saving time and the issue of how many time zones are in use in Alaska — trace back to the Uniform Time Act, which passed in 1966 at the urging of airline and transportation industries. We see how logistics for shipping and travel would tangle quickly with too many time zones to manage.

For an international shipping hub such as Alaska, such a change requires careful consideration and solid research to support the plan. We’ve seen neither.

Adding more time zones to Alaska is a significant change that warrants more than a mid-sentence inclusion in a bill advanced to eliminate daylight saving time.