The Indy Star’s Mary Beth Schneider has an article on the House Committee Hearing on DST entitled Daylight-saving time is issue of the hour. Every time most other states change their clocks but Indiana doesn’t, it creates confusion, he said, as he has to explain why it takes five hours to deliver something to Detroit half the year, but six hours the rest of the year. “It’s something we in Indiana know. I understand the time zone here,” Russell said. “But nobody else does. It’s hurting us.”
I’m not sure how Celadon is running its business, but the numbers on the clock shouldn’t affect how long it takes to physically transport an object from point A to point B. Maybe he misspoke and just means it differently than how it was quoted. The article also talks about anectdotal stories from businesses about missed conference calls and deadlines. I just don’t understand how this is different from any other business operating across timezones. To coordinate a 3:00 p.m. conference call with an office in L.A., you have to know what time it is on the west coast. Indiana is always -5 hours GMT. That should make it easier to coordinate worldwide than a system that is constantly shifting in relation to GMT. We’re as constant as the north star. Frankly, if you’re smart enough to get the phones to actually work right in a conference call, figuring out Eastern Standard Time year round should be a breeze.
Once again, there is a vague assertion that a constant time zone costs Indiana economically, but no actual evidence that switching to Eastern Daylight Time for half the year would add any jobs or failing to do so would cost any jobs.
Apropos of nothing, but you know what would get me to call my legislators and ask them to vote for DST? If the DST bill could somehow be welded to a bill that brought back a one-class basketball system. They aren’t very related, but both are emotional issues that make Indiana a little bit special. But, I liked our basketball tournament better than I like our time zone.
Update: The Evansville Courier Press has a report on the hearing (free registration required) that notes that Joe Champion representing the City of Evansville and Steve Schaefer with the Metropolitan Evansville Chamber of Commerce indicated that their support for the bill was conditional on the entire state moving to the Central Timezone. “The city supports any prospects … that would allow the city of Evansville to be on the same time as the city of Indianapolis,” Champion said. That means they would not support the bill in its current form.
Rep. Gerald Torr says “the two issues should remain separate” noting that the cities on the eastern border would vigorously fight moving to Central Time. But, clearly the issues can’t be separate. You’re putting counties on the western border on Eastern Daylight Time with the current bill.
The South Bend Tribune also has a story on the hearing. In this story, we have our first, and only, specific citation of jobs lost because of DST: “The first, related by state Commerce Secretary Pat Miller, involved the loss of a department store distribution center — Kohl’s — because of time-related issues.” I would be very interested to hear whether the absence of DST was the only reason for Kohl’s going elsewhere.
Updated update: According to this article the DST bill passed out of Committee with a roll call vote of 6 to 5, apparently on a party-line vote, though the committee report is not on the state’s web site.
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