Hovis votes 'no,' Missouri House OKs daylight saving bill

The Missouri Senate has until the close of the current legislative session May 14 to act on a bill approved this week in the state House making daylight saving time (DST) permanent.

Sen. Holly Rehder (R-27/Scott City) told the Southeast Missourian she looks forward to debate on the issue and is waiting to hear arguments from both sides.

The Senate received House Bill 848 after the General Assembly's lower chamber gave it final and overwhelming approval Monday by a vote of 126 to 16.

Reps. Wayne Wallingford (R-147/Cape Girardeau) and Jamie Burger (R-148/Benton) voted "yes," with Rick Francis (R-145/Perryville) not voting, being marked as absent with leave.

Hovis opposed

Barry Hovis (R-146/Whitewater) was the sole local House lawmaker to vote in the negative on year-round DST.

"I agree with stopping the changes (from standard to daylight saving time) every year, but disagreed with permanent DST," said Hovis, who said he much preferred year-round standard time.

Hovis, who was reelected to a second term in the Missouri House in November, said his "no" vote was in part driven by the morning impact on students who would have to board school buses in the dark under permanent DST.

"There was also a study raised on the floor during debate showing (year-round) DST actually has used 3% more energy," he said, a reference to a Nixon administration move in the 1970s to extend daylight saving time during an Arab oil embargo.

President Richard Nixon authorized a 15-month shift to DST, intended as an energy-saving measure, from January 1974 to April 1975, when he signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Conservation Act.

Farm reaction

The president of the Cape Girardeau County Farm Bureau, Laura Nothdurft, said the state organization does not have a position on DST.

"Full-time farmers would be minimally impacted since they have freedom to adjust their schedules," she said.

"However, many farmers also work off-the-farm (and) they may have a preference according to the type of job or shift that they work," Nothdurft explained.

Health impact

Cape Girardeau County's former health officer, Charlotte Boyce Craig, emailed Hovis this week, urging him to vote to end the "very annoying" twice-a-year shift.

Craig, who headed the county's public health center from 1975 to 2012, enumerated a list of adverse mental and physical health issues linked, she said, to going back and forth semi-annually.

• Increased cardiovascular risk (heart attack and stroke), depression and suicide.
• Increased workplace accidents and injuries.
• Increased vehicular accidents in the days surrounding each change.
• Decreased productivity at work.
• Possible triggering of seasonal affective disorder.
• Increased energy use.

Waiting game

If the Missouri Senate follows the lead of the lower chamber and the legislation is signed by Gov. Mike Parson, year-round DST would not go into effect immediately.

According to the bill, five of the eight states surrounding Missouri also would have to enact permanent daylight saving time legislation before DST would take effect for all 12 months of the year in the Show Me State.