ALBANY, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) – State Senator Joe Griffo joined a state and national push to make Daylight Savings Time permanent, just as Central New Yorkers are getting ready to spring forward.
Griffo (R-C – Rome) joined Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) in a bipartisan effort of the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill making its way through Congress that would eliminate Daylight Savings Time in the United States. The bill, written by Senator Marco Rubio (R- Florida) and Representative Vern Buchanan (R- Florida), came close to passing last year, but never got a vote in the House of Representatives.
The bill would repeal the Uniform Time Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. Currently, states have the option to opt out of the act. As of now, Hawaii and Arizona are the only states who do not observe the time change, along with several US territories.
Griffo and Santabarbara have both introduced bills in New York that would establish Daylight Saving Time as the state’s standard time in January and February, respectively. Griffo’s bill has since been referred to the state Judiciary Committee.
