Time to 'fall back' to standard time Sunday; Cape Girardeau County lawmaker weighs in

"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things."

Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" 1871 poem may be called to mind as Americans turn back the clock this weekend, abandoning daylight saving time (DST) to make the annual return to standard time.

In the Missouri General Assembly, House lawmakers talked this spring about rendering daylight saving time permanent if a majority of the eight states surrounding the Show Me State followed suit: Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.

To put it another way, a measure introduced by Rep. Chris Sander of Lone Jack (R-33) proposed to drop any future return to standard time if at least five of the states bordering Missouri agreed.

Members of the lower chamber approved Sander's bill, HB 848, by a 126-16 vote.

The bill never made it to the Senate floor for a vote and died when the spring legislative session ended.

Among the local legislative delegation, Wayne Wallingford of Cape Girardeau (R-147) and Jamie Burger of Benton (R-148) voted "yes" on permanent daylight saving.

Rick Francis of Perryville (R-145) missed the vote and was listed as absent with leave.

Rep. Barry Hovis of Whitewater (R-146) was the sole area lawmaker who voted "no," telling the Southeast Missourian on Friday he would support making standard time permanent but not DST.

"One of the prime arguments made about going to (DST) permanently is there would be an energy savings. I don't think the facts always bear out that conclusion," said Hovis, who is serving his second term in Jefferson City.

Indiana

The Hoosier State went to DST statewide for the first time 15 years ago. Before 2006, DST was in effect in just a handful of Indiana's counties. A report made to the U.S. Congress in 2008 examined electricity usage and billing since Indiana's statewide change.

Daylight time, the study reported, led to a 1% overall rise in residential electricity use, costing Indiana residents an extra $9 million.

Researchers found while DST reduced demand for household lighting, it increased demand for cooling on summer evenings and for heating on early spring and late mornings.

History

Benjamin Franklin is credited with conceiving the idea of daylight saving in 1784 to conserve candles.

The U.S. did not institute DST until World War I in the hopes the move would help preserve resources for the war effort.

The first comprehensive study of DST's effectiveness occurred during the oil crisis of the 1970s.

The U.S. Department of Transportation found that daylight saving trimmed national electricity usage by roughly 1% compared with standard time.

Americans turn their clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday to return to standard time.