Stine: Twice-yearly time changes have Washington stuck in ‘backwards, draconian’ tradition

Washington has been pushing to end its twice-yearly time changes for years now, first in the form of a bill to keep the state in Daylight Saving Time permanently, and most recently, with a proposal to keep the state in standard time.

New bill to keep Washington in standard time provides way around need for federal approval

Regardless of which option ends up succeeding, KIRO Nights host Jack Stine believes we’ll be better off for it in the end.

“I have been yelling and fighting about this and arguing with people about this my entire radio career,” Stine said on Wednesday’s edition of the show. “For some reason, there is a class of people out there that has some kind of pagan-esque affinity to every six months, we put our clocks forward, pull them back, whatever it is.”

The hope from state lawmakers is that the latest effort to stay in standard time will finally put an end to Washington’s seasonal time changes. In order to stay in Daylight Saving Time, states either need a federal waiver from Congress or approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which Washington has been waiting on since 2019. Staying in standard time, though, requires no such approval, and can be implemented immediately at the state level should the new bill pass in the 2022 legislative session.

While staying in standard time won’t help with Washington’s lack of daylight in the winter months, it would still represent a step in the right direction, Stine noted.

“We don’t worship the sun god anymore,” he said. “We don’t need to have this weird ritual every single year. This is why I say pagan-esque, because it is an obsession with some people that we have to have this backwards ritual where six months out of the year we totally ruin our sleep cycle. I’m tired of it.”

Moving forward, both Stine and KIRO Radio traffic reporter Chris Sullivan think we should eventually find a way to stay in Daylight Saving Time, particularly in a part of the country where standard time has the sun setting at the tail-end of the afternoon.

Washington looks for ‘alternative’ paths to end years-long wait for permanent DST

“I do not like the sun setting before five o’clock — I don’t live in the Yukon for a reason,” Sullivan joked.

“I want beautiful sunlight — I want God’s natural rays shining down on me,” Stine agreed. “This idea that we live in this backwards, draconian era where we have to have our our clocks switched all the time, I’m just not for it anymore.”

Listen to KIRO Nights weeknights from 7 – 10 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.