After decades of failed attempts, a bill to make daylight saving time permanent in Colorado unanimously passed a House committee vote on Monday and is heading to the full chamber for consideration.

If enacted, House Bill 1297 would make daylight saving time year-round if federal law is changed to allow states to do so – and, under a new amendment, if four other states in the Mountain Time Zone also make the switch.

“People in general are tired of changing their clocks,” said bill sponsor Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Castle Rock. “They’re tired of having to deal with the effects of that, whether it’s being tired or groggy or it’s just having to change the clock in your car.”

Though the legislation still has a long way to go, Monday’s victory is historic. In Colorado, no effort to make daylight saving time permanent – or to end it – has ever made it to the full state House or Senate.

Colorado lawmakers have tried for more than 30 years to end the flipping back and forth between Mountain Standard Time and daylight saving time, beginning in 1988 with the efforts of then-Sen. Bill Schroeder, R-Morrison. Since 2015, seven different bills and ballot proposals to make standard time or daylight saving time year-round have been introduced in the state.

This year, the bill has a fighting chance – thanks to neutral positions by the skiing and tourism industries, which shut down all previous attempts to lock the clock, arguing it would disrupt their scheduling and operations. Now that the U.S. Senate also passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, the industries said they’re willing to negotiate. 

“If Colorado ski areas must adapt to the new operational challenges imposed by daylight saving time in the winter, our next priority regarding time change is national consistency,” said Xander Martin, spokesman for Colorado Ski Country USA.

The industries are responsible for Monday’s amendment that requires four other states in the Mountain Time Zone to adopt permanent daylight saving time before Colorado’s change can go into effect. Martin said this will prevent competition from nearby ski industries.

Three eligible states – Utah, Montana and Wyoming – are already on board. This means, if the federal government gives the OK, only one more state has to adopt daylight saving time: Arizona, New Mexico or southern Idaho. 

The measure comes as national calls to stop switching between daylight and standard time have grown in recent years. Though it’s against federal law for states to implement year-round daylight saving time, 18 states have passed legislation to make daylight saving time year-round if Congress allows it. Since 2018, Congress has tried and failed each year to make the change. 

“What if we didn’t change the clocks and somebody came forward and proposed, ‘Let’s start changing the clocks twice a year because it’s going to help … something?'” said Scott Yates, a local #LockTheClock advocate. “They’d just get laughed out of the room.”

By disrupting sleep schedules, the bi-annual time change results in more overall deaths from heart attacks, traffic accidents and suicides, according to several studies compiled by Yates.

Supporters of the bill said making daylight saving time permanent will also lead to people spending more time outdoors in the evenings, increasing physical health and activity while boosting spending at local shops and restaurants.

This year, HB-1297 is the second bill on Colorado’s legislative agenda seeking to stop the switch. Senate Bill 135 aims to create a statewide ballot measure to leave Colorado in Mountain Standard Time year-round. A Senate panel discussed SB-135 on March 1 but skipped voting on the bill. The panel has yet to reschedule tackling the measure.