Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes permanent daylight saving time in NJ.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act relating to observing daylight saving time year-round in the State of New Jersey, and supplementing chapter 1 of Title 1 of the Revised Statutes and amending various parts of the statutory law.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. The federal Standard Time Act of 1918, Public Law 65-106, 40 Stat. 450, established standard time zones for the United States bounded by the designated meridian lines, including the zone designated as United States Standard Eastern Time in which this State was placed, and provided for the advancement of time for each zone by one hour from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October each year, a practice commonly referred to as daylight saving time.
b. The federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, (15 U.S.C. s.260a,) was enacted by Congress to promote the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones of the United States. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 did the following:
(1) expanded and renamed the standard time zones, renaming the time zone, into which this State was placed as Eastern Standard Time
(2) re-established daylight saving time as beginning on the last Sunday in April and ending on the last Sunday in October each year; and
(3) authorized a state entirely situated with one time zone, as this State is, to exempt itself from the change to daylight saving time, as long as it does so uniformly as an entire state.
c. In 1986, Congress moved the beginning of daylight saving time to the first Sunday in April. Through the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109-58, Congress established the second Sunday of March as the beginning of daylight saving time and the first Sunday in November as the end of daylight saving time.
d. (1) Under federal law as it exists, states are not permitted to observe daylight saving time year-round; and
(2) it is the intention of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey to observe daylight saving time year-round, should the federal government authorize states to observe daylight saving time year-round.
e. Over the intervening 101 years since the creation of daylight saving time, the residents and businesses of this State have become more accustomed to the eight months of daylight saving time each year than to the four months of standard time each year.
f. The biannual change of time between Eastern Standard Time and Eastern Daylight Time is disruptive to commerce and to the daily schedules, safety, and health of the residents of this State.
g. Remaining permanently on daylight saving time permits this State to avoid negative impacts of the shifts, such as the following:
(1) a 2013 study published in The American Journal of Cardiology found that daylight saving time shifts have a substantial negative influence on the risk of heart attack; and
(2) a 2016 study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics found that the transition into daylight saving time caused over 30 deaths in fatal automobile crashes between 2002 and 2011 due to sleep deprivation.
h. Remaining permanently on daylight saving time permits this State to gain benefits, such as the following:
(1) a 2004 study by Rutgers University into the effects of daylight saving time on pedestrian fatalities showed that full-year daylight saving time would reduce pedestrian fatalities by 171 per year and motor vehicle occupant fatalities by 195 per year; and
(2) a 2010 study on the effects of daylight saving time on motor vehicle crashes showed that daylight saving time reduced crashes at dusk by providing better visibility for drivers.
2. (New section) When the federal government authorizes states to observe daylight saving time year-round, the Legislature shall require that the State of New Jersey observe daylight saving time year-round, pursuant to R.S.1:1-2.3.
3. R.S.1:1-2.3 is amended to read as follows:
1:1-2.3. The standard time of this State shall be [the time of the seventy-fifth meridian west from Greenwich] Coordinated Universal Time minus four hours, and shall be considered Eastern Daylight Time, and wherever time is named within this State, in any manner whatsoever, it shall be deemed and taken to be such standard time[, except that the standard time of this State shall be 1 hour in advance of such prescribed time from 2:00 A.M. on the last Sunday in April until 2:00 A.M. on the last Sunday in October in each year, and except where otherwise expressed].
(cf: P.L.1955, c.47, s.1)
4. Section 18 of P.L.1940, c.17 (C.5:5-38) is amended to read as follows:
18. Each person, partnership, association or corporation desiring to hold or conduct a horse race meeting within the State of New Jersey, during any calendar year, shall file with the commission an application for a permit to hold or conduct such horse race meeting. A separate application shall be filed for each horse race meeting which such applicant proposes to hold or conduct. Any such application, if made by an individual, shall be signed and verified under oath by such individual, and if made by two or more individuals or a partnership, shall be signed and verified under oath by at least two of such individuals, or members of such partnership, as the case may be. If made by an association or corporation, it shall be signed by the president or vice-president thereof, and attested by the secretary or assistant secretary under the seal of such association or corporation, if it has a seal, and shall also be verified under oath by one of the officers signing the same. Such application shall specify the name of the person, association or corporation making such application, and the post-office address of the applicant; and if applicant is a corporation or an association, the names and addresses of the directors thereof, and the name and address of each owner or holder, directly or indirectly, of any share of stock or certificate or other evidence of ownership of any interest in such corporation or association and if a partnership, the names and addresses of all partners, general or limited. If the applicant is a corporation, the name of the State of its incorporation shall be specified. Such application shall further specify the dates on which it is intended to conduct or hold such horse race meeting, the hours of each racing day between which it is intended to hold or conduct horse racing at such meeting, which shall be between the hours of 12 o'clock noon and [6] six o'clock P.M., [Eastern Standard Time] standard time (exclusive of Sundays, on which day no race meeting may be conducted), and the location of the place, track or enclosure where i