Committee approves substitute to pursue permanent daylight saving time

The State Planning & Community Affairs committee voted to advance a committee substitute for Senate Bill 100 that would adopt the language of House Bill 44 to move Georgia toward permanent daylight saving time, pending congressional approval. The substitute (LC460478S) cleared the committee on a voice vote; individual recorded votes were not specified in the transcript.

A lawmaker speaking on behalf of Sen. Watson asked the committee to pass the substitute and cited a national Politico survey, saying, "the respondents preferred daylight saving time, by a margin of 5 to 1." The lawmaker said Sen. Watson asked him to represent the bill because Watson was out of town and that the Senate and House had effectively exchanged language to increase chances of passage.

Scott McGregor, representing the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce and Textron Specialty Vehicles, told the committee the original Senate language in SB100 "is extremely problematic for anybody who lives in our community," saying businesses and industry in Augusta had expressed concerns and that adopting the House language would be less disruptive. The chair then called for a motion; Representative Duke moved that the committee "do pass by committee as substitute," Representative Camp seconded, and the committee approved the substitute on a voice vote.

The lawmaker noted the Senate had also placed the House language into its own House-paired measure and that keeping both bills alive increases the chance of passing some form of the change this session. The committee did not record individual roll-call votes in the transcript; the action was a voice vote and is recorded in the meeting record as approved.