Letter from Florida Representative J. Herbert Burke responding to Governor Askew about repealing the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973, January 25, 1974

Daylight saving--Law and legislation

A letter from Florida Representative J. Herbert Burke responding to Governor Askew about repealing the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973, dated January 25, 1974. Burke advises Askew to gather more support for repeal.

Burke, J. Herbert, 1911-1993

State Archives of Florida, Series S125

1974-01-25

letters (correspondence)

eng-US

text

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Late 20th-Century Florida (1968-2000)

Tallahassee (Fla.)

Leon County (Fla.)

Washington (D.C)

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Politics and Government

Askew, Reubin O'Donovan, 1928-2014

J. HERBER BURKE
12TH DISTRICT, FLORIDA
COMMITTEES:
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SUBCOMMITTEES:
ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS
EUROPE (EUROPEAN AFFAIRS)
FOREIGN ECONOMIC POLICY
HOUSE INTERNAL SECURTY
WASHINGTON OFFICE:
1125 LONGWORTH BUILDING
202-225-3026
DISTRICT OFFICE:
440 S. ANDREWS AVE.
FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA 33301
305-522-3739
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
January 25, 1974
Honorable Reubin Askew
Governor State of Florida
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida
Dear Reubin:
I appreciate and acknowledge with sincere thanks your mailgram which was received in my office today urging me to persuade my colleagues in the House of Representatives to repeal P.L. 93-182, which was approved by the Congress on December 15, 1973, and cited as the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973.
As you know, this legislation was brought to the House Floor presumably under what was alleged to be needed emergency legislation. The House originally passed this bill on November 27, 1973 by a vote of 311-88. My recollection is that at the time it came before the House, all of the members of the Florida delegation, except Congressman Haley, voted for the legislation. Subsequently, when the Conference Report was brought before the House on December 14th, the bill was passed without a recorded vote.
The truth of the matter is that many of us in the Florida delegation opposed the imposition of Daylight Savings Time during the winter months, but we received little or no objections from any elected officials, or any constituents, despite the fact that the House vote on the same was several weeks prior to final passage of the final conference report. I personally have never been satisfied that the amount of energy saved, if any, warranted year round Daylight Savings Time. The only other time we put this into effect was during World War I and it did not prove effective as an energy saver.
I certainly would favor its repeal unless I can truly be sure that it would save enough energy to warrant its continuance. I cannot speak for the entire delegation, but I feel that they would be happy to go along with your suggestion, and those of Mr. Christian, but I think we would be far more successful if we did so as a united delegation. JI will communicate with Congressman Sikes about this matter, and I wonder if you have communicated with him about this possibility.

I might also suggest that the Florida delegation cannot by itself force the repeal of this legislation since the cooperation of the majority of the House and Senate are needed. If you could perhaps communicate with Senator Jackson in support of repeal of the same, I am sure that the suggestion of repeal might be accomplished in the long run.
With kind wishes,
Sincerely yours,
J. Herbert Burke [signed]
J. HERBERT BURKE
Member of Congress
JHB:lb

In 1973, the United States was facing energy shortages and developed a variety of approaches to conserve energy as a result, including the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973. This legislation established a trial period of year-round Daylight Saving Time (DST) from January 6, 1974 to April 27, 1975. The hope was that an extra hour of daylight in the evening would reduce energy consumption, especially the use of electricity.
In Florida, the change to year-round DST came with serious consequences. In the first few weeks after the time change was enacted, several school-aged children were injured in traffic accidents in the dark mornings on their way to school.
In response to these accidents, there was an outpouring of citizen correspondence to Governor Askew expressing their opinions on year-round DST and whether or not Florida should move to counteract the Federal mandate within the state.
On January 29th, 1974, the Florida Legislature met for a special session to discuss DST. At the end of this session, no legislation was passed, and Florida continued to comply with the year-round Daylight Saving Time that President Nixon established.
In 2018, the Florida Legislature passed the “Sunshine Protection Act” (HB1013/SB858), stating that Florida will enact a year-round DST, provided that the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 is amended to permit states to do so.