Will Massachusetts End Daylight Savings And Leave Eastern Time Zone?

New Englanders, fed up with the lack of sunlight in the winter, are considering joining a new time zone.

Last year Massachusetts set up an 11-person commission to study whether Massachusetts should leave the Eastern Time Zone and join the Atlantic Time Zone and ditch daylight savings. The commission released an initial report in September and will vote on the second draft of the report Nov. 1 From there, the issue could be taken up by lawmakers.

“If I had a crystal ball, I would hope that we together with the other New England states and New York and other states that see fit, would stop turning our clocks back and forth for no good reason,” said the commission’s chair, State Sen. Eileen Donoghue, to the Associated Press in September.

In the winter after turning the clocks back, New Englanders can see the sun go down as early as 4 p.m.

The committee says some of the benefits of joining Puerto Rico and the eastern provinces of Canada on Atlantic Time include, energy savings in the afternoon during peak demand, reduced street crime with an extra hour of afternoon light and an economic boost with people shopping and going out with that extra hour of sunlight.

Eliminating daylight saving times, which robs people of an extra hour of sleep in the Spring, would have tremendous health benefits and reduce traffic and workplace injuries, the committee said.

The biggest negative to switching would be economic coordination with the rest of the states on East Coast Time. Adding a time zone would bring the U.S. to five time zones, and would put Massachusetts out of sync with New York City and Washington D.C. The Eastern Time Zone runs from Maine to Michigan.

Maine has already passed legislation that would move the state to Atlantic Time Zone and off Daylight Savings Time, but it's contingent upon a voter referendum that is only triggered by Massachusetts and New Hampshire taking the plunge first.

Rhode Island and New Hampshire have considered bills that would change their timezone as well, but they have been contingent on Massachusetts going first.

Clocks “fall back” on Nov. 5 and maybe one more winter of darkness will convince lawmakers its time for a change.