Oregon’s clocks still ‘fall back’ this weekend

Oregon lawmakers approved a measure in June that would allow the state to adopt daylight saving time year-round. But not yet, as there are still steps to go through.

The Legislature embraced permanent daylight saving time, but we’ll ” fall back ” anyway this weekend. Both Oregon and Washington have taken steps to make DST permanent and end the twice-a-year clock adjustments But before they can officially make that switch, they need a waiver from the federal government.

Oregon also needs a little help from California. To take effect, all three West Coast states have to make the same decision and get approval from Congress. Washington legislators also approved the change this year. In California, voters have approved year-round daylight saving time, but legislators have not signed off on the move yet.

Staying on permanent daylight saving would mean the sun would rise later on some winter mornings. That would mean it would be lighter in the evenings, but sunrise could get pushed past 8:30 a.m. in some parts of the state.

A 2014 University of Colorado study shows that the change could make driving to work more dangerous. It noted that, in the first six days of daylight saving time, there were 302 deaths and a cost of a staggering $2.75 billion over a 10-year period.

Jodi Croft of the State Accident Insurance Fund said a simple time zone change could also change our cognitive abilities.

” One of the things we find is that, any time you disrupt someone’s normal schedule — and that could be as simple as traveling from one time zone to another — it affects our sleep, and also our ability to focus and be on task, ” Croft said.

Croft added that businesses can use daylight saving time as a twice-a-year checklist.
Instead of just changing the times on their clocks, businesses can go over their emergency preparedness kits.

Hawaii and Arizona are the only states that do not observe daylight saving time.