At 9:00, the senate Transportation Committee opened the hearing on Senate Bill 2167.
“It has to do with time,” said bill sponsor Sen. Dave Oehlke (R-Devils Lake).
Specifically, time zones.
Oehlke’s bill would put the state in one time zone – as written, Central time. And it would eliminate Daylight Savings Time. Oehlke told the committee his bill would save businesses time – and money – especially those who serve both Central and Mountain Time.
“Frankly, some of them have real trouble, because you can look at a business that has business in both time zones, and you can consider that they possibly lose four hours a day,” Oehlke said.
Some suggested that the state should be on Mountain time, instead of Central Time, or that the sstate should be on permanent daylight savings time. Oehlke said he really doesn’t care.
“I just think it’s a good idea not to have to disrupt your life and change that clock every six months," Oehlke told teh committee. "And there’s an extraordinary number of people out there that feel the same as I do.”
Cal Klewin lives in Bowman, in the Mountain Time Zone. He’s with a group pushing improvements to US Highway 85 – which may save drivers’ time. He’s in favor of one time zone.
“Because mot of our official business is done in Bismarck, and talking about confused, I spend a lot of time up here during the week, during the Legislative session," Klewin said. "So, I’m jumping back and forth in different times zones all the time. I don’t know what time it is.”
The Committee will take some time to study the bill.