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Time Zone/DST coverage

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Here is a roundup of the coverage of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s time zone ruling.

  • Indy Star – Mary Beth Schneider. Representative Crooks says “this is only the first step.” Meanwhile, Mark Dobson and Brian Bosma, who got what they want, pre-emptively criticize people for not leaving the issue alone — conveniently forgetting the failure of Daylight Saving Time proponents to leave the issue alone when they re-introduced legislation time after time after time.
  • Fort Wayne Journal Gazette –

    ndiana has declined to observe daylight-saving time for decades, and though there were rumbles from time to time, the issue never went anywhere in the legislature.

    Last year, though, a daylight bill pushed by Daniels passed. Daniels, who originally said he thought the state should be on Central time, changed course and said counties could decide for themselves by petitioning the federal government individually to indicate what time zone they wanted to be in. Some have described that process as a big mess.

    Rep. Bauer says, “The only way most people in Indiana will feel that they haven’t been force-fed by the federal government and the governor is to have a referendum so they can express their views.”

  • The Evansville Courier Press – Jennifer Whitson. Ms. Whitson notes that the USDOT’s final decision mirrors almost exactly the request put forth by Governor Daniels in his November 29 letter. (As I’ve pointed out, it would have been far better had the Governor put forth his recommendation in conjunction with the DST bill so the whole proposal could get an up or down vote, instead of dissembling until he got his way on Daylight Saving Time before committing to a time line proposal.) Troy “I promised I’d never vote for it (but I did anyway)” Woodruff, who cast the final vote on DST, said that the USDOT decision “accomplished what we wanted.” He was happy that “we let locals pick.” Apparently he didn’t read the part about where Governor Daniels opposed the petition of St. Joseph County despite state law requiring him to support the local choice.
  • South Bend Tribune James Wensits. Commissioner Bodle said she was disappointed but not surprised. Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder, who got what he wanted, said he “hopes everyone takes a timeout for a year.”
  • WSBT quotes Rep. Fry as saying, “I think the people in Saint Joe County ought to have what they want, and the majority of the people that have contacted me want Central Time.”
  • Rep. Dvorak has a round up of his own (from which I snagged the South Bend Tribune and WSBT links.)
  • Redroseangel has a post entitled “Goddamn Mitch Daniels, You are not My Man.” She says, “Every single county to our east and slightly south are now on eastern time. But I go directly south…and it’s still “Indiana” time. They’re making it worse, this isn’t going to help whatever “commerce” problems that they are dealing with. Now you can drive through one county, then another, then another and visit 3 different time zones. . . . I hope someone rots in Hell for this decision.”

    Advance Indiana is personally comfortable with the new map, but shares my thought that some politicians may be in for a rocky ride because of this.

  • Schmoos law blog explains the situation to non-Hoosiers, and ponders the federal administrative law that is involved. My Admin Law recollection (very, very rusty and, therefore, possibly wrong) would be that any appeal would have to be taken to a federal district court (not sure if that could be local or would have to be to the D.C. Circuit). The appeal would likely have to satisfy an “abuse of discretion” standard, and since the USDOT’s discretion on time zones seems to be essentially unfettered, that would be a tough burden to meet.
  • I mentioned this one earlier, but Lawgeekgurl has an excellent entry on how St. Joseph County got screwed.
  • DT Nelson says that the issue is settled for this year, but notes that the whole state should be on Central Time based on plain geography which suggests the time line ought to run through the middle of Ohio. He figures that some minds will change once folks have lived through a year of EDT.
  • ConservaTibbs makes a lot of sense, “Indiana should not have gone to DST, but if we were going to change, the whole state should be on the same time. This is silly.”

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