29 January 2019 — 1557 mst

Senate committee hears Sen. John Esp’s bill
to repeal Daylight Saving Time in Montana

If passed, the bill, SB-153, would put the issue to the voters as a legislative referendum. If the voters approved the referendum, Montana would revert to Mountain Standard Time all year long. Esp (R-Big Timber), back in the legislature after completing his term limits political exile, represents SD-30. The bill is in the Senate’s state administration committee.

During the DST months, that would have the effect of putting Montana on Pacific Daylight Time, so that noon in Seattle would be noon in Noxon, near Montana’s western border, and noon in Sydney, next to Montana’s eastern border. But noon in Sydney would be 1400 Central Daylight Time in Williston, North Dakota. For a map of repeal’s consequences, see my post for 21 February 2017.

In the 2017 session, the Senate approved a bill repealing DST, but the bill died in the MT House following an avalanche of denunciations from most everyone except farmers and anti-DST zealots.

According to KXLH, most of the testimony on Esp’s bill was negative. I don’t think it has a snow cone’s chance in a blast furnace of passing. But it will receive at least one Yes vote as Sen. Ryan Osmundson (R-Buffalo, SD-15), who sneaked his DST repeal bill through the Senate in 2017, is on the committee. Osmundson requested a bill, LC-2359, “Generally revise laws related to daylight saving time,” but the bill’s current status is “Draft on Hold.”

If you value that extra sunshine at the end of the working day, please send the committee and your local legislators a message asking them to kill SB-153. To deliver a message by telephone, call 406-444-4800. To deliver a written message electronically, you can use the legislature’s online messaging form. Most legislators have email, with links to their accounts on their legislative pages (roster).