Steube Bill Still Likes Daylight Savings, but Would Let Panhandlers Stay in Central Zone

Submitted by Nancy Smith on February 12, 2018 - 6:51pm

Northwest Floridians like their lives on Central time. They're happy living an hour behind the rest of the state.

Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, amended his plan to put all of Florida in the Eastern time zone -- but the state nevertheless would remain on year-round daylight savings, if Senate Bill 858 is approved by the full Legislature and then Congress.

The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee voted unanimously Monday to support the bill, a measure that scraps seasonal clock-resetting. It's now virtually the same as House Bill 1013, which is headed controversy-free to the House floor Wednesday.

Three senators who represent Central time zone districts pleaded the case for Central time. Committee Chairman Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, and George Gainer, R-Panama City, all argued their constituents were dead set against going to Eastern time in the Panhandle.

"We have heard our constituents loud and clear that they want to us to maintain our historical place in the Central time zone," Broxson wrote in a letter to the committee.

Even if the legislation passes both chambers, it's uncertain.how long it might take Congress to vote on it

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