New bill would keep Missouri on daylight saving time

A new bill might soon make daylight saving time the standard across Missouri.

State lawmakers are now considering doing away with the annual practice of switching your clocks back and forth.

There are a few conditions that come with the proposal.

This bill would make Missouri spring forward and never fall back, meaning we would stay in Central Daylight Time and stop using Central Standard Time.

This same bill was up for discussion last year but it didn’t go through.

Committee members opposed to it said the bill didn’t account for the fact that a large portion of Missouri’s population live on the state’s borders.

They, of course, refer to residents from St. Louis and Kansas City.

Opponents said it would be too confusing and difficult for businesses if Missouri were the stand-alone state to adopt the measure.

However, this year’s version of the bill stipulates that before going into effect, at least two other states that share borders with Missouri would also have to get rid of the time change.

“I think we’ll see other states that will say, ‘you know, there’s no reason to continue to change back and forth. It’s an archaic practice that serves no purpose, and obviously our citizens appreciate more daylight in the off-work hours, and that’s what this proposal would give,” said State Rep. Mike Kelley, R-Lamar.

If passed, the earliest the state would see any change is in March 2018.

At that time, Missouri would spring forward for the last time.