SALEM, Ore. — An amended version of Senate Bill 1548, which would end the shift to daylight saving time in Oregon and keep the state permanently on standard time, advanced out of a legislative committee on Tuesday on a 4-1 vote.
Republican Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend was the only senator on the committee to vote against it. The full Senate will now vote on the amended bill, but a date for that has yet to be scheduled.
A previous version of the bill narrowly failed to pass in the Senate last week, only to be revived by some last-minute maneuvering that allowed it to be brought up for reconsideration.
The amended version includes a trigger that ties the change to neighboring states Washington and California. The amendment states that Oregon would not change to year-round permanent standard time unless those two states did the same. If California and Washington don't pass similar bills by March 2034, the Oregon bill would at that time be repealed.
Washington and California considered similar bills this session. It died in Washington and appears stalled in California, according to the Oregonian.
In 2019, Oregon and Washington passed bills to make daylight saving time permanent, but the bill also required California to sign on before making the switch, but that effort stalled. States also need approval from Congress or the Department of Transportation to make daylight saving time permanent. A move to permanent standard time requires no such approval.
Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states in the country on year-round permanent standard time. Neither of those states observe daylight saving time.
For now, the change to daylight saving time continues in Oregon, starting March 10 at 2 a.m.
