A Colorado lawmaker plans to try again to keep the state on daylight saving time, but this time he wants voters to clock in.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said he’s bringing the issue back at the request of Coloradans who regularly contact him to tell him how much they dislike the dark evenings changing their clocks back an hour in November and forward an hour in March.

Brophy made the announcement at sunset Tuesday via Twitter.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if sunset was 5:30 instead of 4:30? @DavidBrophy02 and I would still be playing football. Intro bill for year-round DST,” Brophy tweeted, mentioning his son.

Brophy said he wants voters to have a say in the matter. If the legislature approves his measure, the issue won’t be on the ballot until 2014 and, if approved, wouldn’t go into effect until March 2015.

Brophy said the timing couldn’t be better — the next measure from the legislature on the ballot will be called Referendum T.

“This all started from a simple Facebook conversation two years ago where just a ton of people agreed with me that changing the clock face twice a year was ridiculous,” Brophy said. “I’m energized to try it again, but I also think this is a pretty big step for Colorado. Maybe we ought to ask the people of Colorado if they want to do this.”

Brophy’s measure in 2011 was one of two dealing with daylight savings. He wanted Colorado to permanently run on an unaltered Mountain Daylight Time, which begins in the second week of March but reverts under the current system the first week of November to setting clocks back an hour earlier.

Avoiding the offset, Brophy said, would make it darker on winter mornings and lighter later in the evenings, which he said was perfect for a very “outdoorsy state.”

The other proposal, by Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Fort Garland, would have allowed Colorado to join Hawaii and Arizona in staying on standard time year-round.

Congress in April 1966 made daylight saving time uniform but allowed states to decide whether to exempt themselves.

Brophy admitted he was surprised when his bill passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee in 2011, but credited the timing: He had it heard in March, after lawmakers lost an hour of sleep when daylight saving began.

There was no opposition to the measure at that point, but the ski industry eventually opposed the bill, arguing it would hurt resorts in the morning during ski season. The bill died later in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, lbartels@denverpost.com or twitter.com/lynn_bartels