SB 73

Abstract

Daylight saving time has existed in one form or another for over 100 years. In that time, Delawareans have become accustomed to the 8 months of daylight saving time each year. This Act provides for Delaware to permanently remain on daylight saving time. This Act achieves this by doing the following: (1) Requiring, in Section 4 of this Act, that the Governor request that the United States Secretary of Transportation place Delaware in the Atlantic standard time zone if Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland each enact a law requesting the Secretary to place their respective state in the Atlantic standard time zone. The Secretary is authorized under 15 U.S.C. § 261 to define the limits of each time zone and thus may place Delaware in the Atlantic standard time zone. (2) Exercising, in Section 2 of this Act, the discretion granted to Delaware under 15 U.S.C. § 260a to exclude itself from daylight saving time. Section 5 of this Act makes clear that this exclusion takes effect on the first Sunday in November once the United States Secretary of Transportation places Delaware in the Atlantic standard time zone. This results in Delaware permanently remaining 1 hour ahead of eastern standard time.