The Debate on Daylight Saving Time in Illinois Continues

Illinois residents and even the state lawmakers have different opinions about Daylight Saving Time. The debate whether to abolish it or not continues as some people believe that ending the twice-a-year tradition will prevent the adverse effects it brings to people's health. Many Illinois lawmakers have proposed a bill this year to move the state to year-round Daylight Saving Time or standard time. 

Tim Butler, R-Springfield, and David Welter, R-Morris, have introduced bills to move Illinois to permanent standard time all year which is the current wintertime. On the other hand, State Reps. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, Tom Morrison, R-Palatine, and Mike Zalewski, D-Chicago, have proposed bills to make permanent Daylight Saving Time which is the current summertime. 

For Butler, it is more ideal to have standard time because it means more daylight in the morning. Contrary to this, Zalewski explained that people's current lifestyle involves more evening activities, making it ideal to have more sunlight later in the day. Supposed the state switched to Daylight Saving Time, the latest sunrise in Springfield during the winter would be 8:16 a.m. However, the earliest sunset would be 5:33 p.m

Illinois will be on Eastern time in the winter instead of central time if there are no other changes outside the state. This means that the standard time during summertime would put Illinois in the mountain time zone. Even if the state can abolish Daylight Saving Time on its own, it is still required to have congressional approval to abolish standard time.