House Rep. Dale Grubb, D-district 42, cannot go out to a restaurant to eat without a constituent commenting on the daylight-saving time legislation that has hit the statehouse this session.
"It's an issue that they feel extremely strong about," he said during a debate with House Rep. Jerry Torr, R-district 39, on Friday.
Grubb, a farmer in southern Indiana, is fighting the bipartisan bill to begin daylight-saving time in Indiana. He said that his animals do not care what time it is.
Torr recognized the problems farmers encounter when the state changes times.
"Daylight-saving time costs farmers an hour of time on the farm when they have to interact with the community," he said.
However, Torr said that residents in southern Indiana who do business across state lines want to be in sync with their business associates.
"[Indiana time] creates significant road blocks for companies like American Express," Torr said.
Torr said that trucking companies experience many problems because of the time difference. The Indianapolis Star reported that Celadon, a trucking company whose largest customer is DaimlerChrysler, could be charged as much as $20,000 per minute if a shipment is late, and the time change confuses drivers who do not live in Indiana.
Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in his State of the State Address that he planned to push for daylight-saving time.
"And, the time has come to stop penalizing Indiana businesses through our quirky treatment of time itself," he said during the Jan. 18 speech. "If it were just a matter of the rest of the world's laughing at us, I'd say let them laugh, but the loss of Hoosier jobs and income is no laughing matter, and any step that might help is worth trying."
Grubb said little substantial evidence can prove the time difference is a major cause of economic problems in the state. Large companies in the state, except Celadon, said that daylight-saving time does not cost them jobs, according to the Indianapolis Star.
During the debate, Grubb cited statistics from 2002 and 2003 by the Small Business Administration indicating that small businesses thrive in Indiana. The statistics showed that both Arizona, one of the three states that do not observe daylight-saving time, and Indiana rank in the top 50 percent for new employer startup companies. When asked about Hawaii, the other state that does not observe daylight-saving time, Torr said, "If you're lucky enough to live in Hawaii, who cares what time it is?"
Torr said the extra hour of daylight at night reduces crime rates, automobile accidents and energy consumption in the summer.
"It's something we can do free that we know can help the economy," he said.
Sophomore Jessica Fox-Lee, chemistry and physics major, agreed with Torr.
"I think it would make more sense if the whole country followed the same standard," she said. "It would make communication between states easier."
Grubb said that changing to daylight-saving time is difficult in Indiana because it falls on the borderline between two time zones.
"If we do go onto daylight-saving time, do we switch to Central or Eastern?" he said.
Grubb said he would prefer Central time.
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