AUSTIN -- The ballot language on whether Texas should go year-round to either Daylight Saving Time or Standard Time won tentative approval from the House Wednesday -- but not before a vigorous tussle between two experienced and influential Republicans.

If Rep. Lyle Larson’s proposed referendum on time wins a final House nod and then the Senate’s blessing, state voters on Nov. 5 would face this question on the ballot:

“Which of the following do you prefer? Observing standard time year-round. Observing daylight saving time year-round.”

On Wednesday, veteran GOP Rep. John Smithee of Amarillo tried to amend Larson’s enabling bill that would spell out the fine points of how the referendum would be conducted.

Under Smithee’s proposal, voters would be given a third option -- as he said, “Leave things as they are, where we switch.”

Smithee was referring to how currently, Daylight Saving Time starts each year at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and ends at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.

Smithee said going to Daylight Saving Time year-round could disrupt airline passengers and football game schedules, with some National Football League games starting at 11 a.m. on Sundays, instead of at noon.

“Now, churches won’t like that,” he said.

Rep. Ramon Romero Jr., D-Fort Worth, said year-round Daylight Saving Time would be unpopular with construction workers. In the fall, they’d be starting work in the dark, he said.

Larson, though, strongly opposed continuing twice-yearly clock changes.

Over more than 50 years of debate of whether Daylight Saving or Standard Time is better, the Legislature “failed to act and so we continue to follow this arcane approach to chronicling time,” the San Antonio Republican said. “It’s senseless.”

On an unrecorded “division vote,” the House shot down Smithee’s attempt to give voters the option of keeping the status quo, 72-70.

Fort Worth GOP Rep. Craig Goldman, who was presiding at the time, announced two North Texas lawmakers as supporting Smithee’s amendment -- Romero and Democrat Michelle Beckley of Carrollton.

House Joint Resolution 117 easily passed the House on Tuesday. House Bill 3784 could win final House approval as early as Thursday. In the Senate, Houston GOP Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who has filed a similar measure, said Wednesday he probably can support Larson's approach. If the Senate approves, the referendum will happen.