Legislation establishing daylight saving time as the official time throughout the year in Iowa advanced out of a State Government Senate Committee meeting on Monday. Sen. Brad Zaun (R-Urbandale) managed the bill through a pretty uneventful debate on the legislation.
Zaun said daylight savings time came about to save on candles “many, many years ago.” He provided an example from when he owned a hardware store and said his sales went up during daylight saving time because people were out doing things.
“I believe that people like to be in a light area,” Zaun said. “I certainly recognize some of the concerns about it being darker in the morning, but we all do things as a family and we’ll find with light we’re probably going to do more things as a family.”
Zaun shared Sen. Jason Schultz’s (R-Schleswig) nickname for the bill, the “Light at Night” bill. He said he doesn’t pay much heed to the argument that Iowa will stick out like everybody else if it is one of the first states in the region to make the change.
“Well, you know what, maybe we’ll be a leader,” Zaun said. “We’re a leader in a lot of things.”
The bill passed with three Democrats, Senators Claire Celsi, Eric Giddens and Todd Taylor, voting against.
