FW: US DST changes?

[Olson, Arthur David (NIH/NCI)]

John is on the time zone mailing list; I'm checking on why his message did
not go through.

				--ado

----- Forwarded message from John Hawkinson <jhawk at MIT.EDU> -----

Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:59:42 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200507201359.j6KDxfH1002941 at multics.mit.edu>
To: tz at elsie.nci.nih.gov
Subject: US DST changes?
From: John Hawkinson <jhawk at MIT.EDU>

An article in ran on page D1 of Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Set to
Expand Daylight-Savings Time," discussing the "Energy Policy Act of 2005,"
which might extend US DST by 1 month in both directions (Mar-Nov instead of
Apr-Oct).

The bill in question was originally H.R.1640 (last year), and is now
H.R.6/S.10. The House version includes the DST extension as Section 111.:

SEC. 111. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS.

      (a) Repeal- Section 3(a) of the Uniform Time Act of 1966 (15
      U.S.C. 260a(a)) is amended--

            (1) by striking `April' and inserting `March'; and

            (2) by striking `October' and inserting `November'.

      (b) Report to Congress- Not later than 9 months after the date
      of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall report
      to Congress on the impact this section on energy consumption in
      the United States.

(text from http://thomas.loc.gov)

The Senate version does not include that section. The WSJ article, by John
J. Fialka, says, "The idea has now been agreed upon by House and Senate
committee staffs, with the approval of both Republican chairmen and ranking
Democrats. That means it is likely to be approved by the full House-Senate
conference committee, which begins squaring the differences between the
House and Senate versions of the bill this week." It would take effect this
fall.

It seems to me awful fast -- is it reasonable to expect the major OS vendors
to update their DST tables in 3 months? [not to mention that the clock
doesn't start ticking until the bill is actually signed into law...]

--jhawk at mit.edu
  John Hawkinson

----- End forwarded message -----