The first week of June, most likely, marked a first for me in the 11½ years I have been your state representative.
I voted yes on a bill I didn’t like. Many times in the past I have been conflicted on a vote and struggled with the final outcome, but at the end of the day I agreed with the vote for the most part. That was not the case with SB320, the daylight-saving time bill.
I voted yes for one, simple reason: You told me you wanted me to.
Personally, I am comfortable with switching our clocks between standard time and daylight-saving time. In some respects, I look forward to it.
I also have some concern about kids in the mornings as the darkness is stretched later into the morning when they are going to school. My son typically was picked up by the bus just a few minutes after 6:30. I was always happy when we changed the clock and he had a few months in which he waited for the bus in daylight.
In the Rules Committee, where this bill was worked on the House side, we heard quite a bit of testimony in support of maintaining daylight-saving time year-round. Some testimony did not advocate for either standard time or daylight-saving time, but rather, consistency.
Recently, California and Washington have passed legislation to maintain daylight-saving time. If Oregon does not pass similar legislation, we will be in a different time zone than our neighbors to the north and the south.
Multiple steps need to be completed for this legislation to actually result in a time zone change. SB320 was the first step. This Senate bill states Oregon will maintain daylight-saving time. There is a companion piece of legislation that accompanies SB320. SJM6 urges Congress, along with California and Washington, to approve the change.
I have received a lot of requests for this and I am listening to you. The majority of emails and phone calls received in my office regarding this matter were from constituents requesting to stay on daylight-saving time. For those of you who were in favor of staying on standard time, please know I heard you as well, but so many more asked to stay on daylight-saving time.
Therefore, since this bill does not require me to compromise a deeply held moral belief and the majority of my constituents requested it, in spite of not being in favor personally, I voted in favor of SB320.