And I suspect that if we switch over you [in the Maritimes] might do the same, but that's your choice, of course. And other states have split time zones … Perhaps a simpler solution would be to adopt daylight saving time year-round. State representatives in New Hampshire and Maine have already approved the change, which would be contingent in each case on Massachusetts doing the same. “In Boston, the latest sunrise of the year would be 8:14 a.m. during the first part of January, but the sun would never set before 4:30 p.m. again,” meteorologist David Epstein wrote last year. Adopting year-round daylight saving “doesn’t manufacture daylight, it just moves it around,” said Prerau. Maine is at the eastern edge of the Eastern time zone, which extends roughly 1,600 kilometres westward, almost to the Michigan's border with Wisconsin. "Most people like the idea," McGuire said. Most people he has talked to support the idea, he said, but there are concerns about children going to school in the dark in the morning. Some have suggested as a compromise that we'd just make a half-hour difference with Eastern Time instead of an hour. Charlie Baker and state lawmakers to raise the issue with regional bodies in the hopes of getting neighboring states to follow suit. However, it presses the need for public awareness and defines two qualifiers for the time zone change to happen. MA commission proposes New England switch to Atlantic Time Zone. The report by Massachusetts’s special commission sends the issue back to Beacon Hill, where “members of the Legislature can choose to file bills based on its recommendations if and as individual members see fit,” according to Mark Sternman, the legislative director for Sen. Eileen Donoghue, who chaired the commission. But if parts of New England move to Atlantic Time, the continental United States will go from four to five time zones. The commission recommended making the move “only if a majority of other Northeast states – possibly including New York – do so as well.” They urged Gov. If New England can pull of the change, residents would be like their neighbors in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New … In the winter months, the sun would rise later in the morning and set later in the evening. reports 1,452 new COVID-19 cases, 13 new deaths, U.S. health panel urges restarting J&J COVID-19 vaccinations, Racial disparities persist in Boston police interactions, Beth Williams, former Roxbury Technology CEO, dies at 57, Mass. Most people think in hour increments. “You couldn’t change parents working time because if you moved everything up an hour, nothing would really change in the end.”. In their final report released this past week, a special state commission recommended that Massachusetts switch time zones “under certain circumstances,” effectively adopting daylight saving time all year round. While such a move could place at least four of the six New England states in the same time zone with the Maritimes, with the lawmakers' apparent opposition to daylight saving, it would only be for part of the year. With most public schools in Massachusetts beginning the day before or around 8 a.m., even the commission on changing time zones acknowledged safety concerns for students. “People really disliked the very dark morning,” he said, noting that later school start times occasionally clashed with parents’ work schedules. Daily #s Representative Carol McGuire, a Republican, co-sponsored a New Hampshire bill to have the state adopt Atlantic standard time. New Hampshire’s House also passed a year-round daylight saving bill, but it was voted down in the state Senate. Red-zone towns Maine House votes to join Atlantic time zone, if New Hampshire and Massachusetts do the same. “Living near a time zone border is not very pleasant,” he said, adding that the original time zone lines were chosen in low-population areas to avoid such problems. Connecticut legislation as recently as January 2019 has been proposed that could ultimately lead to a change in the state's time zone and possibly New England's as well, moving to the Atlantic Time Zone, if Massachusetts and Rhode Island do the same. Massachusetts may be leading the charge, but they’re hardly the only state considering this idea. The commission therefore recommended that any move to year-round daylight saving time be accompanied by later school start times, which they noted that some are already calling for due to concerns that students already aren’t getting enough sleep. In their report Wednesday, the state commission argued more light in the afternoon would boost local commerce via evening retail sales; increase retention of students who cite the cold, dark winters as a frustration with the region; and even reduce crime and energy usage. However, Prerau says the move to year-round daylight saving time didn’t prove very popular when it was temporarily implemented during the 1970s energy crisis. For the entire month of December, the sun will set in Boston sometime between 4:11 p.m. and 4:20 p.m. “Boston lies so far east in the Eastern Time Zone that during standard time, our earliest nightfall of the year is a mere 27 minutes later than in Anchorage,” Tom Emswiler, a leading proponent of changing time zones, wrote in 2014. In Rhode Island, Blake Filippi, the house minority whip, introduced a bill in February that would move that state to Atlantic time and also be contingent on Massachusetts abandoning Eastern standard time. Shifting one time zone would give us a 5:11 sunset—a small but meaningful competitive change. On the ground, Prerau says the change would also be chaotic and inconvenient for people living near or regularly traveling across the border, whether its on the edge of Western Massachusetts or on the Connecticut-New York line. So the state commission recommended switching to Atlantic Standard Time and then opting out of daylight saving. José Massó, director of policy at Massport, told the state commission that the hour time difference in the winter could confuse passengers at Logan airport traveling to or from places like New York City or Washington, D.C., the respective financial and political capitals of the country. Not only would there be a time difference, but there would be a non-uniform time difference,” David Prerau, the author of. “When it comes to daylight, we can do much better than Alaska.”. An opponent says changing our ways could get messy. In practicality, Massachusetts and the rest of the eastern United States already observe Atlantic Standard Time from March through November. Due to the size of some countries and the spread of other places belonging under their jurisdiction, one country can be divided into a number of time zones. Perhaps just eastern New England would move to Atlantic Time? Meanwhile, Vermont lawmakers are considering a resolution simply “demanding that Congress abolish daylight saving time” (which has only existed on the national level since 1966). "I'd rather get up an hour later. low-population areas to avoid such problems. In the report, the special commission concludes that the benefits of moving to AST outweigh the problems. Testing locations. Could Massachusetts lead all of New England to change time zones? Maine tourism operator Bruce Gillett said he supports the switch to Atlantic time but also wants to hold on to daylight saving time. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices. Help, their final report released this past week. News 12 Staff. New England moving from the Eastern Time Zone to the Atlantic Time Zone becomes like Trump’s love for playing golf in front of Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral. Changing to Atlantic Time in New England would be a two-step process. Rockland, Me., photographed in … Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. Mass. "The transition from regular time to daylight saving time is dangerous and uncomfortable and nobody likes it," McGuire said. Nov 03, 2017, 1:30pm EDT. A time zone is a geographical area that has the same state-regulated time, known as "standard time". "We have got to have later school start times," he said. "I don't like waking up in the summer at 5 a.m.," said Gillett, who runs a vacation rentals business. All six of the New England states in the northeastern U.S., currently in the Eastern Time Zone (with daylight saving time), have considered legislation to shift to UTC−04:00, equivalent to Atlantic Standard Time (with no observance of daylight saving time) or Eastern Daylight Time. Updated on: Nov 03, 2017, 1:30pm EDT. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. “Although appreciable costs associated with making this change would result, on balance the Commission finds that doing so could have positive benefits that largely stem from the absence of a spring transition to DST and the additional hour of winter evening light,” the report said. “Once we spring forward, I don’t want to fall back,” said Rhode Island state Rep. Blake Filippi, who hopes the whole region will shift one hour eastward, into the Atlantic Time Zone. Vaccination sites And even if Americans are increasingly cutting the cord when it comes to cable, the move would have an impact on residents’ TV-viewing habits with primetime events starting one hour later during the winter months. Sign up for Boston.com's e-mail alerts and receive coronavirus news and breaking updates, from our newsroom to your inbox. How would the state address other concerns? From transportation to entertainment, the move could prove disruptive. In the new economic development bill signed into law by Gov. However, federal law only allows states to opt out of daylight saving time — as Arizona and Hawaii currently do. New England residents may be relishing the extra hour of sleep Sunday morning. Around New England Maine Tabling Atlantic Time Zone Move … For Now. Currently, What are the odds Derek Chauvin wins on his expected appeal? Commission moves time zone issue forward Daylight savings time explained The shift would put Massachusetts an hour ahead of its bordering states for about four months each year. Massachusetts wants to go all the way, even if acknowledging some drawbacks. Four New England states, including Maine, are considering a move to the Atlantic time zone. Charts If adopted, the commission also recommended funding a public awareness campaign focused on travelers and communities near the hypothetical new time zone boundaries. It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. 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