Des Moines, Iowa — (RI) — Daylight Saving Time — forever.
That’s the idea behind a bill State Representative Mike Sexton of Rockwell City is sponsoring.
Humans used to measure time by the position of the sun. In the late 1700s, the British introduced the concept of “Standard Time” — so time would be uniform throughout a region. The concept was adopted in America about a century later. Daylight Saving Time was introduced in the U.S. and many European countries during World War One, to conserve the fuel used to make electricity. The extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day in the springtime and summer helped farmers.
Sexton says the majority of people who’ve talked to him about this issue prefer to stay on Daylight Saving Time, to get that extra hour of sunlight in the summer.
Sexton tried, but failed to advance his idea through the 2019 Iowa legislature. He plans to try again this year after the state of Washington was successful in getting a federal waiver and making the move to year-round Daylight Saving Time. A bill that’s been introduced in the Iowa Senate would make Central Standard Time year-round in the State of Iowa.
