IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK EVERYWHERE: A FRAMEWORK FOR THE MODERNIZATION OF TIME.

• Author: Deal, Ryan

INTRODUCTION

Twenty-six minutes into the premiere of Season Four of The West Wing, an already bad day for three presidential aides gets even worse. (1) The trio is attempting to reach Air Force One before it takes off at 1:00 p.m., and since it is already 12:45 p.m. when they are three miles away, time is tight. However, their situation becomes hopeless when they learn that it is actually 1:45 p.m.--local time changed when they crossed county lines (2) and they had already missed their flight. (3) Despite reassurance from a local campaign volunteer that "it's a common mistake," (4) the high-level government officials are incredulous, referring to the American time-zone scheme as a "schmuck-ass system" (5) and asking, "What, do people just reset their watches when they commute? They just change their watches every time they cross a time zone? What is this, a joke?" (6) The scene ends with one character beating a highway guardrail with a stick in frustration. (7)

This episode, which aired in 2002, already has characteristics that seem quaint in light of contemporary social changes, such as the characters' reliance on cable news and local newspapers in their attempt to ascertain what is happening outside of rural Indiana. (8) But even two decades ago, the characters on The West Wing were forced to interact with a timekeeping system that had failed to keep pace with social change--one that remains largely unchanged today. (9) Increased connectivity and interaction across long distances has resulted in a growing number of people who "just change their watches every time they cross a time zone," (10) whether virtually or physically, as they coordinate professional and personal interactions with others living hundreds or thousands of miles away. (11) In the best-case scenario, the current system of time organization creates an archaic and omnipresent burden on long-distance interactions that requires regular time switching (12) with no compelling justification beyond cultural inertia. In the worst, it ruins presidential travel plans and leaves its victims beating a highway guardrail with a stick.

This Note discusses existing legal procedures by which the current system of time could be modified to adapt to contemporary social changes and reduce time switching. (13) Part I describes how the current system of timekeeping evolved and explains why it results in frequent time switching today. Part II considers the effectiveness of ongoing efforts by localities and states to avoid time switching by moving to a more favorable time zone. Part III evaluates attempts by state legislatures to minimize time switching by eliminating Daylight Saving Time (DST). Part IV briefly discusses the current international time zone scheme and contemporary contexts in which universal time is used on a global scale, suggesting that it offers a better model for a time-zone system in the United States. This Note ultimately argues in Part V that the United States should establish one permanent national time zone.

1. FROM SOLAR TO STANDARD: THE TRANSITION FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL TIME

   Timekeeping in the United States has become increasingly standardized as society has evolved and grown more interconnected. Originally, time was a purely local matter, as the difficulty of long-range travel minimized the importance of coordinating time from place to place and allowed communities to effectively function using solar time. (14) But as long-range railway travel became easier and more prevalent, the need for a regionally standardized form of time measurement increased, (15) culminating in the passage of the Federal Standard Time Act in 1918. (16) The Federal Standard Time Act authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to establish time-zone boundaries, which were set in roughly the configuration used today. (17) Congress updated the federal system of time with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, (18) which shifted authority for determining time-zone boundaries to the Department of Transportation and enacted a nationwide system of DST. (19) The Uniform Time Act framework for time zones is still active in the United States, but was amended in the twenty-first century by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, (20) which extended the length of DST. (21) Besides the uniform federal adoption and subsequent extension of DST (along with minor adjustments to time-zone boundaries), (22) our time-zone system has remained largely the same since 1918.

   The contiguous forty-eight states are divided into the eastern, central, mountain, and Pacific time zones, which are offset behind coordinated universal time (UTC) by five, six, seven, and eight hours, respectively, when DST is not in effect. (23) Beyond these, five additional American time zones are proscribed by statute (Atlantic, Alaska, Hawaii-Aleutian, Samoa, and Chamorro), ranging from eleven hours behind UTC (Samoa) to ten hours ahead (Chamorro), giving the United States a maximum of twenty-one hours of time difference between its territories. (24) Even these nine time zones do not exhaustively govern areas under United States jurisdiction, as members of the military stationed in other countries remain controlled by federal law and are subject to the prevailing time zone in their host nation. (25) The variety of time-zone options present in the United States is presumably intended to ensure that sunlight hours are aligned with clock time across the country. But sunrise and sunset times vary across latitude, altitude, and even longitude within a time zone--as well as in a given place from season to season. (26) More specifically, our system of time zones is meant to ensure that solar noon--the midpoint between sunrise and sunset--is somewhat close to 12:00 p.m. everywhere in the country, a goal that has been accomplished with reasonable accuracy. (27)

   The tradeoff for a system that ensures the sun is at its highest point sometime around 12:00 p.m. is time switching. (28) Residents of the United States are forced to deal with regular time switching on two fronts. The first front for time switching is in interstate or international interactions. Anyone who regularly deals with another person in a different time zone is forced to time switch when coordinating mutual times, and social changes have resulted in more frequent switched-time interactions with family members, (29) mass media, (30) and coworkers. (31) The COVID-19 pandemic has hastened this shift toward increased interactions across distance by limiting localized gatherings (32) and inducing employers to accept a dramatic expansion in remote work. (33)

   The second front for time switching is DST, (34) which affects even those who only interact with time on a local level. (35) For the residents of forty eight states, (36) time switching takes place on a seasonal basis as the clocks "spring forward" to DST in March and "fall back" to standard time in November. This effectively doubles the number of time zones by requiring a distinction between a zone's standard time (xST) and a zone's DST time (xDT). (37)

   The regularity of time switching required by citizens in an increasingly globalized world necessitates a simplification of prevailing time systems. (38) Discontent with current time zones can be found at all levels of government, and this Note will discuss methods by which government entities seek to optimize timekeeping at all levels, from local to international. As this Note will demonstrate, the optimal evolution of timekeeping in the United States would move the country to one permanent national time zone and wholly eliminate the harms associated with time switching.

2. LOCALIZED REPOSITIONING OF TIME-ZONE BOUNDARIES

   Localities near time-zone boundaries are the most likely to be burdened by the current system of time zones, since residents of one town will necessarily use a different time than businesses or other institutions in a neighboring town. Although time-zone boundaries cut through some significant metropolitan areas, (39) rural residents are more likely to be affected. (40) Official times also carry greater significance at the local level, because citizens are more likely to directly interact with their local government than with the state or federal government. (41) Beyond coordination concerns, localities on the eastern side of time-zone boundaries are more likely to suffer from a host of health and economic disadvantages compared to localities on the western side, primarily because the later sunset times on the eastern side reduce the amount of sleep individuals tend to get. (42)

   A state or locality may wish to modify a time-zone boundary for two reasons. The first is to consolidate an administrative unit such as a county into a single time zone. (43) The second is for a locality to move its time zone toward that of a neighboring economic center that exerts significant influence. (44) A state or locality that wishes to move a time-zone boundary for either of these purposes can request a boundary change from the United States Secretary of Transportation, who is empowered to grant exemptions or realignments of time-zone limits. (45) This structure of authority reflects the increased federal control of time in contrast to the Interstate Commerce Commission's role under the earlier Federal Standard Time Act, which gave deference to state governments to set prevailing time. (46) Courts have permissively interpreted the form that a time-zone-boundary request may take, allowing popular referendum (47) or judicial interpretation (48) to count under the statute. However, the organization of the Uniform Time Act indicates that any appeal by a state or locality is only a prerequisite for federal action. (49)

   Localized time-zone consolidation was common in the early years of standard time but has declined in frequency as the Interstate Commerce Commission unified most large population centers into one time zone prior to the passage of the Uniform Time Act...