LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — It seems clear that State Sen. Tom Briese doesn’t like moving his clock around.
“It seems everyone in the state hates the idea in having to change their clocks twice a year and I really do mean everyone,” says Briese.
The farmer from Boone County says plenty in his rural district agree. That's why he’s aiming to keep Nebraska on permanent daylight saving time.
That would mean Nebraskans would not have to move their clocks around.
“This practice is actually hurting and even killing people,” says Briese.
Briese, along with Scott Yates, a nationwide advocate for the change, points to studies that show the time flip causes more car accidents, heart attacks and a variety of other injuries.
“It throws you off just enough that you trip and break your wrist, then that’s a big deal for you. And that’s one of the things they found out, that wrist injuries go up right after the spring forward time change,” says Yates.
Yates, who has a blog championing the change, travels the country, asking state and federal representatives to make laws to stop moving the clocks twice a year.
“If there’s not a really good reason to change it, then why do we change it? And there’s really not a good reason to change it. The reason we change it is were just stuck with it, it’s an anachronism that goes back to World War I,” says Yates.
If the legislature passes it, it wouldn’t quite go into effect.
The bill would be triggered by federal approval of the change and if three neighboring states passed similar bills.
Progress is already being made on that front, as Wyoming passed a law last year.
“It’s no longer a question of if it’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when,” says Yates.
There was no formal opposition at the hearing Wednesday. Joe Kahout, a lobbyist with the Nebraska Golf Alliance, said he originally was going to oppose the bill but changed his mind after hearing testimony and is now neutral.
He just wants to make sure the golf industry, which is already struggling, doesn’t get hurt by the move.
“What impact does this have on rounds in that time frame? Because in some cases 70 percent of our revenues are coming in from that period of time in those months,” says Cahout.
There is a chance the bill could pass in Nebraska this year. Over one third of the legislature, both Republicans and Democrats, signed on to co-sponsor the bill.
The bill first needs to get out of the Government Affairs Committee.
