Remember to set your clocks back an hour

In spite of the legislature’s approval and Governor Mark Gordon’s signing the bill, Wyoming will continue to use Daylight Saving Time, “falling back” an hour on Halloween night.

Even though Wyoming has passed the bill there must be four contiguous states that pass a similar bill, requiring them to remain on continuous Mountain Daylight Time year round in order for the change to take effect, and that could take years.

Representative Dan Laursen of Powell has brought the bill forward several times over the years, but this was the first year it made it to the Governor’s desk.

Two states, Utah and Idaho, have passed similar legislation, but at least two other western states have to follow suit, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, or North and South Dakota.

A similar bill was killed in Montana in 2019 as well as one in Colorado that failed this spring. Although Nebraska introduced a bill it was indefinitely postponed.

If the western states decide they want to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, they still have to get the go-ahead from the federal level. That request would be under purvey of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Laursen is sure it will take years before any kind of agreement can be made between the states and then getting the OK from the feds could be another years-long hurdle.