By Anna Kaminski, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA – A Kansas legislator renewed attempts to rid the state of daylight saving time under a bill filed ahead of the state’s 2025 legislative session, which begins later this month.
Senate Bill 1, which was prefiled Friday, seeks to exempt Kansas from participating in the national practice of switching clocks back an hour every November and forward again every March.
Sen. Kenny Titus, a Wamego Republican who was elected to the Senate in November after serving a term in the House, is sponsoring the bill that would create year-round standard time beginning November 2025.
“Every year I get asked by constituents why the state doesn’t do something about switching clocks back and forth,” Titus said. “Most often I hear from folks that they don’t really care if we are on daylight saving or standard time, they just want to keep it consistent throughout the year.”
Recent attempts to put an end to the time changes at state and federal levels have failed. The last attempt in Kansas was in 2021 when Rep. Shannon Francis, a Republican from Liberal, drafted a resolution asking Congress to eradicate standard time and stick with daylight time year-round.
Only Arizona, Hawaii and the U.S.’s unincorporated territories are exempt from the switch.
In 2022, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would’ve made daylight saving time permanent, but the U.S. House declined to take it up.
Despite the U.S. House’s resistance, Titus said, “it shows there is popular support to at least talk about making a change.”
A 2021 AP-NORC poll found that 75% of Americans want to stop switching their clocks, and studies have shown switching clocks can be detrimental to sleep habits and overall health.
Abortion-rights activists also warned against a Republican supermajority this year, in fear of further abortion restrictions. Both Klemp and Starnes were endorsed by Kansans for Life, the largest anti-abortion PAC in Kansas.
Klemp says the issue of abortion was “overplayed” this election. Starnes says he knocked on 9,000 doors and had four people bring up abortion. Both said they see abortion as a “decided issue.” They said they want more options for pregnant people before birth and for the adoption process to be less expensive.
Starnes said after talking with the four constituents who were concerned about abortion, two decided to vote for him.
“Personally pro-life, I support giving women more options through things like pregnancy crisis centers, ensuring child support is paid prior to birth,” Starnes said. “I think that’s going to be important in the conversation as we go forward in providing more choices for women.”
