Senator Anna MacKinnon’s bill proposing the elimination of Daylight Saving Time in Alaska is still working through the legislature and the Juneau Chamber of Commerce is continuing to lobby against it.
Past Chamber President Lance Stevens argues that a specific arm of Southeast economy cannot afford to lose an hour of evening light…
Stevens: “Tourism. If we lose that hour of evening daylight, that really is going to impact our tour operators, because it doesn’t matter if you have an extra hour in the morning, with a six o’clock flight time, you’d have to change everything with cruise ships, it’d just have this rippling down affect on our tour operators specifically portion of the tourism economy.”
Current Chamber President Dan Fabrello suggests a compromise for the bill…
Fabrello: “We’d like to see Alaska, if it moves forward, Alaska move to Pacific Standard Time if Daylight Saving is eliminated in Alaska. Basically it’s a spring forward and stay forward.”
The bill is awaiting action by the House State Affairs Committee.
