Daylight saving time year-round? Don't get your hopes up

Those of us who don’t adjust well to to the semi-annual time change momentarily saw a ray of hope in LB 1015 introduced by State Sen. Tom Briese of Albion.

While the headline hit the highlight -- putting Nebraska on daylight saving time year round -- the devil, they say, is in the details.

Before Briese’s bill could go into effect, it would have to be proven to not be in conflict with any federal laws or orders from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Oh, and two bordering state would have to go along with the idea.

Last time we checked, “states” which don’t observe daylight saving time -- Hawaii, most of Arizona, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands -- don’t border Nebraska.

Still, it’s not a hopeless situation.

In recent years, year-round daylight saving time has been proposed in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, and efforts have been made in California, Washington and Oregon.

Several New England states have proposed shifting one time zone to the east and staying on standard time, which has the same effect as a permanent daylight saving time.

Florida even passed a bill to set its clocks on permanent daylight saving time, but like Nebraska’s bill, it depends on federal approval, amendment of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which has since been modified but still regulates time across the country.

In 1918, the U.S., fighting Germany in World War I, followed Germany’s lead in adopting daylight saving time in an effort to save energy.

It’s never been convincingly proven to do so, and there is plenty of evidence that it causes harm to sleep patterns, safety and productivity.

More than a century has passed since the twice-a-year time change was introduced, and it hasn’t worked.

It’s time for the experiment to end.