California Year-Round Daylight Savings Time

Dear Senator,

In May 2001, the California state legislature sent a Senate Joint Resolution (SJRX2 1) to the White House and Congress asking that California be allowed to extend Daylight Saving Time year-round. However, as of the end of September 2001, Congress and the White House have not acted on this request. We believe that this issue is of utmost importance given the current financial crisis in our state. There are several benefits, both economic and societal, for California to move to a year-round DST and we think it is of utmost importance for our representatives to seek federal approval of this resolution.

A study was released in May 2001 by the State of California's Energy Commission to see if creating an early DST or going to a year-round DST wiould help with the electricity problems the state faced in 2000-2001-2002. One conclusion of the study finds that The financial impacts of DST and DDST depend on electricity costs. Winter DST savings might range between $100 and $350 million, while DDST this coming summer (June through
October) could save $300 to $900 million. That study can be found at this link: http://www.energy.ca.gov/reports/2001-05-23_400-01-013.PDF

Daylight Saving Time saves energy. Based on consumption figures for 1974 and 1975, The Department of Transportation says observing Daylight Saving Time in March and April saved the equivalent in energy of 10,000 barrels of oil each day -- a total of 600,000 barrels in each of those two years. California Energy Commission studies confirm a saving of about one percent PER DAY.

Daylight Saving Time saves lives and prevents traffic injuries. In the 1974/75 study, the earlier Daylight Saving Time allowed more people to travel home from work and school in daylight, which is much safer than darkness for drivng. Daylight Saving Time also prevents crime. Because people get home from work and school and complete more errands and chores in daylight, Daylight Saving Time seems to reduce people's exposure to various crimes, which are more common in darkness than in light. During the study, The Department of Transportation estimated that 50 lives were saved and about 2,000 injuries were prevented in March and April of the study years. The department also estimated that $28 million was saved in traffic accident costs.

A report and summary of several of the California Department of Energys finding can be found here: http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html

We request that you ask congress to grant Federal Approval for a year-round Daylight Saving Time in California as soon as possible.