California is one step closer to ending daylight saving time Assembly passes bill that could change time-honored tradition

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First of all, let's get this straight: It's Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time. You're saving daylight, though actually you're not. We're just moving it around.

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First of all, let's get this straight: It's Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time. You're saving daylight, though actually you're not. We're just moving it around. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff Buy photo Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close California is one step closer to ending daylight saving time 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — A plan that would pave the way for ending daylight saving time in California has passed in the Assembly.

AB 807, authored by Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, passed 48 to 6, with 26 members not voting. The bill now heads to the California Senate.

If passed, the bill would repeal California's 67-year-old Daylight Saving Time Act. Then, lawmakers would have to decide whether to keep California on standard time or daylight saving time year-round, with the approval of the federal government.

If the plan is approved by the federal government, it would then become a statewide ballot initiative in the next general election.

Chu proposed a similar effort last session. It failed after lawmakers raised concerns about harming business in the state.

How did daylight saving time even begin?

California has been observing the annual time shift since voters approved it in 1949, but the idea formed decades earlier.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said railroads adopted a four-zone time system in 1883 to reduce confusion as they operated in about 100 conflicting time zones.

Then daylight saving time was introduced by President Woodrow Wilson's administration in 1918 as a way to save energy during World War I.

The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established a uniform daylight saving time throughout the nation, from the second Sunday of March through the first Sunday of November.

The act allows Congress or the transportation secretary to change a time-zone boundary.

What's the point of daylight saving time?

The U.S. Department of Transportation has three key arguments for keeping it:

It saves energy. Because the sun sets an hour later during daylight saving time, people tend to use less electricity for lights and appliances.

It saves lives. DOT officials report there are fewer crashes because people are more likely to be driving during daylight.

It reduces crime. DOT officials claim extra daylight means people are out less at night, when more crime occurs.

Has anyone else dumped daylight saving time?

A variety of states have proposed measures over time to eliminate the time change, but most have failed.

Only two states currently do not observe daylight saving time: Arizona and Hawaii.

American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not observe it.

This story originally appeared on KCRA.com.