Oregon bill to make standard time permanent almost dies in tie Senate vote; maneuver keeps it alive, for now

SALEM, Ore. (KGW/KTVZ) — An Oregon bill that would make standard time permanent nearly went down in the Senate on Tuesday — saved, it seems, by some last-minute maneuvering that could keep the bill alive for another vote, KGW reports.

Senate Bill 1548, which has bipartisan backing, would eliminate the twice-annual switch to and from daylight saving time in Oregon entirely.

Unlike bills previously passed by both the Oregon and Washington legislatures, which pushed for permanent daylight saving time, SB 1548 would not need to wait on a West Coast compact to ratify the change. In short, Oregon would not need to wait on Washington and California, nor would it need to wait on an act of Congress.

Having passed out of a Senate committee on Monday, the bill hit the Senate floor for a vote Tuesday. Initially, the vote was deadlocked at 15-15, which means that it narrowly failed to pass. But one of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer), changed her vote to oppose the bill, making the final outcome 14-16.

Thatcher's vote change doesn't mean that she had a change of heart — quite the contrary. Legislative rules allow the prevailing side in a vote (in this case, the "no" voters) to bring a bill up for reconsideration, as long as they serve notice within a certain timeframe. In the case of the short legislative session, which 2024 is, reconsideration has to be done on the same day it was requested.

By changing her vote, Thatcher was able to bring SB 1548 back for reconsideration. At the end of Tuesday's floor session, the Senate voted whether to allow that reconsideration, which they did. Thatcher begrudgingly requested that the bill be sent back to the Senate committee on rules to be amended in order to add a "trigger" to the bill, which the full Senate voted to approve.

This move suggests that at least part of the opposition to SB 1548 hinged on the fact that, as introduced, it pays no mind to the time system in neighboring states like Washington and California — potentially putting the states out of sync, at least during about half the year, within the Pacific Time Zone.

It's not clear what amendments will be made to the bill in committee, but it's likely that it will acquire at least some of the caveats that the previous legislation — which embraced permanent daylight saving time — did in regards to Washington and California. Regardless, a switch to permanent standard time does not require sign-off from Congress, like permanent DST would need.