Lawmaker Wants to Exempt Kansas From Daylight Savings Time

Kansas would stop observing daylight savings time after this year under a bill being pushed by a prominent Republican legislator.

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee heard testimony Thursday from Republican Sen. Ty Masterson of Andover in favor of his bill.

Masterson said there’s little evidence that moving clocks forward an hour each spring saves energy or increases productivity, and it interrupts people’s sleep cycles and could cause health problems.

Lawmakers in other states also are considering proposals to move away from the twice-a-year ritual of changing clocks. Daylight savings time begins this weekend.

Masterson is chairman of the powerful budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Committee.

But he was the only person to testify in Thursday’s hearing, and the panel doesn’t yet plan to take up his bill.