Wyoming Senate Makes Changes To Time-Change Bill

The Wyoming Senate on Monday gave initial approval to a bill that could eventually lead to doing away with the twice-a-year time changes in the state.

But House Bill 44 was also significantly changed from its original form.

Senators adopted an amendment proposed by Sen. Ogden Driskill [R-Devils Tower] that would change the requirement in the House Bill that Wyoming would ask the federal government for permission to stay on Daylight Saving Time year-round if the surrounding states of Colorado, Utah, Montana and Idaho pass similar legislation.

The version adopted by senators in the Senate Committee of the Whole on Monday instead says the state would move to DST year-round if three ''western states" do the same. The bill defines the "western states' as follows:

''As used in this section, "western states" means the 6 states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South  Dakota, Utah and Wyoming."

Congress would also have to allow the change to year-round Daylight Saving Time. If the bill were to become law, it would take effect on the first Sunday in November.

The bill is slated for another reading on Tuesday, which will offer another chance to amend the legislation. It then would face a final and decisive reading.

If senators leave the bill in its current form, the House and Senate will have to agree on a final version before it can be sent to Governor Mark Gordon.