Normally I’m not one for amending the Constitution of the United States, and I highly scrutinize any calls to amend the Constitution. But Daylight Saving Time has me in a little bit of a pro-amendment kick right now.
Under Article I, Section 8, one of the enumerated powers of Congress is to “fix the Standard of Weights and Measures”. This includes the standards around time and how it is tracked and measured. As such, I think we need to amend the Constitution to limit this power:
The power to fix the Standard of Weights and Measures shall not be construed as to allow the adjustment of the day’s hours without the consent of three-fourths of the States. The standard of hours that exists on the first of January of the year following the enactment of this amendment shall persist until overridden under the terms of this amendment.
In other words, make non-DST the default, and if Congress and the President want daylight saving time, they’ve got to take the issue up with the States first. Or we could even take it one step further and put it up for a national referendum.
The idea behind this is simple: daylight saving time is disruptive, and studies have shown little benefit and actually a bit of disruption. It benefits some industries while negatively affecting others. The chance of heart attack actually increases in the days following the spring transition but does not have a corresponding equal reduction in the days following the autumn transition. The goals of reducing energy usage are no longer met by the transition due to major changes in energy usage across the country and the world, and there are disruptions in productivity following each transition as well
So this is one area where I would fully back amending the Constitution, to remove from Congress the power to enact or re-enact daylight saving time without the States consenting or even the direct consent of the People through national referendum.
