On Halloween this year, the sun will set in Portland at 5:33 p.m. One day later, for no good reason, sunset on Sunday will occur 61 minutes earlier after a return to “standard time.”
Here in Maine, there is clear and robust support for a return to a single, year-round time — a move that would end confusion, keep our daily routines on schedule and remove one little irritant from our busy lives.
In Washington, D.C., they just can’t get on the same page. The U.S. House agreed by a wide margin over the summer that the nation should stop changing its clocks twice a year. Both U.S. Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree joined the majority in favor of the proposal.
But despite their support for the bill, it remains stalled in the Senate, which specializes in making sure nothing much happens on Capitol Hill.
Both of Maine’s senators, Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, favor leaving daylight saving time permanently in place.
Collins once said changing the clocks twice annually “has been linked to higher rates of accidents, depression and other health issues.”
“Like many Maine people, I’m tired of 4 p.m. sunsets and time-change whiplash that throws our collective routines ...