Just like clockwork, daylight saving time is coming up in Lansing, again, and this time just a few days before Michiganders are due to spring forward.

In most legislative sessions, bills are introduced to eliminate daylight saving time in favor of staying on Eastern Standard Time year-round. Some of the bills get hearings, but none have ever gotten a vote.

This time, state Rep. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton, is sponsoring the timely bill, saying it's a nuisance for workers and students to have to flip back and forth between the two times every spring and fall.

“The practice is antiquated and impractical and it’s time we put an end to it,” she said.

Hoitenga and others have argued that studies have shown that student performance falters, circadian rhythms suffer, and work-related accidents and health problems surge from sleep-deprived Michiganders trying to adjust to losing — or gaining — an hour of sleep.

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The last time the issue was debated in 2017, others said it would put Michigan at a competitive disadvantage because for half the year, the state would be on a different timetable than surrounding states. And the golfing and tourism industry argued vigorously against the change, saying it would damage their business from people who like to catch a sunlit round of golf or other activity after work.

Hoitenga’s bill calls for Michigan to remain on Eastern Standard Time when other states spring forward.

“We should eliminate the burden of acclimating ourselves to a time change twice a year,” she said.

The bill would need federal approval because Michigan would essentially be changing time zones, which is something that is regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Currently, there are four Michigan counties in the western Upper Peninsula that share a border with Wisconsin and observe Central Time.

Daylight saving time first came about during World War I as an energy savings strategy and re-emerged in the 1970s for the same reason.

Two states — most of Arizona and Hawaii — do not observe daylight saving time.

And, for the record, people should “spring forward” and turn their clocks one hour ahead when daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday. It will fall back one hour at 2 a.m. Nov. 3.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.