The state Senate passed a bill on Monday aimed at permanently changing Georgia’s time zone and ending the twice-annual clock change.
House Bill 154 would petition the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to shift Georgia to Atlantic Standard Time, which would make Georgia the sole state along the East Coast to end springing forward and falling back every year.
“Twice a year, we disrupt the lives of every family in this state,” said state Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia. “We force parents to adjust their schedules. We throw off sleep patterns. We interrupt routines that people depend on, not just for convenience but for their health, their work and their children.”
Proponents of the idea say the shifts are needless disruptions and that shifting permanently to Atlantic Standard Time would help people maintain their sleep patterns and keep a standard routine.
Although the shift might bring consistency for Georgia residents, it would also put the state on a different footing than neighboring states in the autumn and winter when clocks fall back an hour. During those months, Georgia would be an hour ahead of East Coast states and two hours ahead of Alabama and parts of Tennessee and Florida. Georgia would be in the same time zone as Nova Scotia instead of New York.
“If this bill was proposed to move with all the other neighbors in the Eastern Time Zone, I’d support this,” said state Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, who voted against it. He noted that it could create inconsistency and confusion for scheduling across state lines half the year.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have taken aim at the time change.
In 2021, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill that only goes into effect if Congress lifts the federal prohibition on states permanently switching to daylight saving time. Congress hasn’t acted, but HB 154 could be a workaround.
Hatchett said that Georgia can take advantage of other avenues to make a time zone change and that other states would follow suit.
The bill passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support in a 45-5 vote, but it needs another vote in the House before being sent to Kemp for his approval.
Originally, HB 154 had nothing to do with time zones. The House version, which passed that chamber unanimously, dealt with designating ambulance services as essential services. The Senate stripped out that language and replaced it with the proposed time zone change.
It’s not clear when the change would take effect, but the bill requires the governor to request that the federal government approve the move before the end of the year.
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