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Northwest Florida Senators Oppose Plan To Move Area To The Eastern Time Zone
January 31, 2018
Senators from Northwest Florida are speaking out against a proposal that would move the Florida Panhandle into the Eastern time zone.
The Senate Affairs Committee has voted in favor of a proposal by Sen. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican, to put Panhandle counties in the same time Eastern time zone as the rest of the state and for Florida to observe daylight-saving time all year.
Senator Doug Broxson (R-Pensacola), Senator George Gainer (R-Panama City), and Senator Bill Montford (D-Tallahassee) expressed serious concerns to the proposed legislation
“Senator Gainer, Senator Montford, and myself represent people who live and work in the Central time zone and we adamantly oppose any move to change to Eastern time zone. We have heard our constituents loud and clear that they want to us to maintain our historical place in the Central time zone,” Broxson said.
“This is a much bigger issue than the convenience for my constituents. Parents, understandably, do not want their children waiting for the bus in the dark, just as one example. It becomes a safety issue for our school districts,” said Senator Montford. “We need to look at this issue from a more comprehensive standpoint, because there will much more far-reaching implications than I think people realize. I have constituents in both time zones and if we look closely at this issue, we might see that it could cause more problems than remembering to reset your watch when you come across the river.”
Under the bill, dubbed the “Sunshine Protection Act,” the U.S. transportation secretary would have to initiate rulemaking to redesignate the portions of Florida that currently lie within the Central time zone to the Eastern time zone. Congress would have to approve legislation to allow the state to remain under year-round daylight-saving time.
“We do not need the state legislation to tell us what time it is. Anything of this magnitude that affects our daily lives should be put to a vote by the people,” said Senator Gainer.
Comments
32 Responses to “Northwest Florida Senators Oppose Plan To Move Area To The Eastern Time Zone”
To the post: Dorothy on February 2nd, 2018 12:41 pm
Speak for yourself Dorothy, you do not speak for the panhandle so don’t use “we” in your post. The majority of people I have talked to strongly oppose moving to the eastern time zone. Apparently you do not understand the Earth rotates or the seasons.
We strongly oppose remaining in the central time zone. We demand that the panhandle be placed in the eastern time zone. At one time the panhandle voted to be placed in the eastern time zone but was never enacted. The panhandle is in the state of Florida and we should all be on the same time zone. Leave DST as it is and we will go to DST with rest of the country at the same time. Senators, move the panhandle to eastern time zone.
I am all for staying in central time zone but if we do that and eliminate daylight savings time, there would still be a problem when Alabama observe dst we would be in different time zones until months later when dst ends for Alabama. Leave things alone.
@ Alabama not my concern
It shouldn’t be your concern that people choose to cross the state line. The people that do cross the state line have always done so in the same time zone. I doubt they are concerned with you either. You don’t get to tell people where to work.
I am glad that our senators oppose this bill. I don’t want to see it pass either. However, I see a lot of people posting here that we should do away with daylight savings time. They use the quote about it being dumb to cut a foot off the bottom of a blanket and sewing it to the top and expecting a longer blanket to illustrate their point. But that misses the idea it entirely. Daylight savings time doesn’t seek to lengthen a day. It takes unused daylight that happens BEFORE we wake up and moves it to the afternoon when we can use it. The sun comes up here at 5:47 am on June 21st, the longest day of the year. Without daylight savings time, the sun would come up at 4:47 am. I don’t wake up that early, so that hour of sunshine is totally wasted for me. Likewise, we need to be on regular time in the winter because the sun rises at 6:42 am on December 21st. If daylight savings time were in place, the sun would come up at 7:42 am – far too late. All of this happens because the amount of sunlight and the times of sunrise and sunset vary greatly throughout the year. DST reduces the variation. The chart at this link shows the impact that daylight savings time has on making sunrise more regular (this chart is not for our area, but the effect is very similar here):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#/media/File:Greenwich_GB_DaylightChart.png
Keep us in the CST. Do away with daylight savings time
Just say No to time change! What a ridiculous idea.
I have zero concern about Alabama’s time difference. I was Florida born and Florida raised. Florida is where I live, spend my money, cast my vote, pay my taxes, etc…. but I too am against changing to EST, but not because it would inconvenience those who “choose” to cross state lines daily.
Makes sense to keep us like we are.
This would create huge issues for people who live in AL and work in FL & Vice Versa. Not to mention the safety of our children. So glad that our Senators are speaking out for the people in this area. Keep the panhandle on CST but get rid of day light savings time for the whole country. It is depressing during the months when it gets dark early, cost us more in electricity, don’t do any shopping after dark and it is very tough on our bodies.
If you feel the need to comment your feelings and reasoning’s on this site, please express these concerns to Senator Doug Broxson (R-Pensacola), Senator George Gainer (R-Panama City), and Senator Bill Montford (D-Tallahassee). They are the one that really need to know and hopefully can execute their constituents wishes.
We need to speak out to be heard! Concerned citizen.
I know it will never happen, because there are so many people who oppose it, but I would be SO happy if this proposal was made law. I don’t work in Alabama, but I have a sister that does, and she is in favor of it as well… If everyone would stop being so scared of the math, they could see that it actually favors those in Florida considerably… we would be on the extreme western edge of the EST, so NO MORE getting dark at 5pm in the winter… this also means that if you got off work at 5 in Atmore and came into Florida, you would still have several daylight hours to burn… the only ones that would have it rough are those that live in Alabama and work in Florida.
I agree, leave us in our CST. Don’t want to live in Eastern time zone. If I did I’d move to the Eastern time zone. Please leave us alone! Steube needs to stay out of it!!
Agreed with the folks saying, leave the time zones alone and eliminate daylight savings time for ALL of Florida. Daylights saving is the biggest false thing the government ever did.
Perfectly expressed in a meme where an American Indian is saying’ Only a white man would tell you that cutting an inch off the top of a blanket and sewing it only the bottom will give you a longer blanket!”
That should have read; Only a government….!
Think about it???
If they put us in Eastern time and do away with the daylight savings, then for six months out of the year we would be two hours different than Alabama!
i agree with derrick
Leave us in CST, and eliminate daylight saving time. The whole country should get rid of daylight saving time.
Don’t be too harsh.
Mr. Steube most likely has a card for what he’s smoking.
I do not want to change to the Eastern Time Zone, but I do like the idea of year round daylight savings time, This getting dark between 4:30 and 5:00 in the winter months is not good for kids arriving home on the bus around that time .
It was right in front of my eyes and I missed it! Steube wants us on eastern time so the votes in FL will be in all at once! This matters in the presidential election. Duh.
I live in Florida and work in Alabama and my daughter lives in Alabama works in Florida just over the Florida Alabama state line. Need to leave it like it is unless there changes to same time.
Sen. Greg Steube needs to be voted out. He’s not in the Central time zone, probably doesn’t have any school age children, and is a jerk. Toss the idiot out.
Think about this…there was no problem with time since the beginning of it..until man decided he wanted to control that too. Everyone gas a opinion,agenda and wants to be involved. B eed to go back to the old ways and leave Father Time alone.thank you
good move on their part if they want to be re elected. had to be someone in the south end of the state dreaming this idea up.
Steube needs a hobby or something. Who in the Central time zone elected him to tell us how to live? Our Senators need to tell him to take a hike, in his own time zone!
Leave us in CST, and eliminate daylight saving time. The whole country should get rid of daylight saving time.
Simply let the people decide.
I think someone has been getting too much sunshine if they support this bill!
Glad the Senators listened. If you want to live in Eastern Time Zone then simply move there. Easy as that!
I VOTE NO!
Good. This makes me even happier than usual.
David for CST
Here is a proposed solution for a non-problem. Why is a Senator in Sarasota deciding that the Panhandle should change time zones? He doesn’t live here.
I’m so thankful that our local Senators are chiming in & fighting against this proposed Act. Leave our time alone! Why does some Senator (Steube) give 2 cents about us in the panhandle? Deal with your own Sarasota issues Sen. Steube & stay the heck out of our (the panhandle’s) business. Guess it will not matter to him (Steube) that during parts of the year we (panhandle) could be 2 hours difference from our neighboring state of AL, in which some/many travel across state lines daily to work or vice versa. This issue to begin with is such a waste of time.