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Press to end daylight saving time for good sign in Washington

The end of summer time is almost near.

On Sunday we go back an hour, which again gives rise to complaints and legislation to stop the process.

In Everett, Kara Chapman said what many believe to be true about the “fall back” time change.

“It’s great that you get an extra hour of sleep, but it just makes everything crazy!” she said.

The clock overlooking the main waiting room for the trains at Everett Station is reminiscent of the front of a locomotive. It’s not fully functioning, but if it were, it would technically fall back on Sundays. It’s a practice that some want to end, including James Sauls, who works in Everett.

“Everyone likes to get that extra hour of sleep. But things get really confusing if you don’t turn back the clock. People are late for different things,” he said.

Efforts to drop the time change continue in Washington state. Senator Jeff Wilson is working on a bipartisan bill to eliminate the biennial time change between standard and daylight saving time. Wilson says he and others want clock stability with standard time.

“It’s time to put an end to this confusion once and for all. For me and some (others), the clock may have run out for Congress and this may be a signal to them that Washington State needs to make progress on this issue,” Wilson said.

The bill is being submitted to a Senate committee in Washington, and if it passes, Wilson knows the state still can’t move forward without approval from Congress, which hasn’t happened yet.

Chapman has seen the impact the time change can have on people commuting from Everett Station.

“People miss buses, they miss trains; we have people in this case who are late to work or early to work,” Chapman said.

Sauls also says that a fixed time would be an advantage.

“I would rather stay in one time zone: the standard time zone,” he said.

Some federal officials have advocated permanent daylight saving time. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says sleep experts prefer permanent standard time.

Some are just hoping the clock will tick once all year, including Sauls, who supports efforts to drop the switch.

“I would be in favor of the Legislature acting and making Washington state one time zone within the standard time zone.”