CHEYENNE - Each year in March, the United Methodist Church in Cheyenne reminds parishioners about the impending arrival of daylight-saving time.

Then like clockwork, someone forgets to "spring forward" and arrives at Sunday services at the wrong hour.

"There are always a few people who go, 'Whoops,' or walk in during the end of a service," church Office Manager Marlyn Salley said.

A bill headed for the Wyoming Legislature could erase the confusion. Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, wants to add Wyoming to the short list of states that don't participate in daylight-saving time, an invention of Benjamin Franklin in 1784.

"Personally, I just think it's crazy that we have to change the time," Cooper said.

The one-page bill, Senate File 24, would exempt Wyoming from the practice and mandate observance of standard time all year.

Cooper, who convinced three other lawmakers to co-sponsor the bill, personally dislikes the time change.

"You just get so used to going to bed at a certain time almost every night," Cooper said. "It kind of frustrates me for a couple of weeks."

Daylight-saving time is nearly a century old in the United States. Supporters say it conserves energy by reducing the need for artificial light, prevents car wrecks during the evening commute and saves workers from being victims of crime on their way home in the dark.

Critics say the inconveniences - including business and legal errors, confusion and traffic accidents caused by sleepy drivers - outweigh the benefits.

In Wyoming, daylight-saving time is sometimes connected to the agricultural industry. Goshen County rancher and farmer Shawn Booth said the time change doesn't affect his work schedule, which begins before dawn and ends after dark.

"I like daylight-saving time more than anything because the school buses are traveling during the daylight," Booth said. "Otherwise kids in the rural areas are getting on the bus before it's even daylight out."

Daylight-saving time always begins and ends on Sunday to avoid workday confusion; hence the reminders in church newsletters. Only Arizona and Hawaii don't subscribe to the practice.

Former Rep. Bruce Hinchey, R-Casper, introduced a bill in the 2000 Legislature to end daylight-saving time in Wyoming. Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, drafted a similar bill that year but declined to introduce it in light of Hinchey's measure. Hinchey's bill died in part because lawmakers could not decide whether to set the clocks permanently to standard time or daylight-saving time.

Case, an economist, said government studies refute the idea that daylight-saving time results in energy savings, which he called a myth.

"I think the important thing is to be consistent and not make this really weird change that's hard on people," Case said.

Though it didn't inspire Cooper's bill, a change in federal law will extend daylight-saving time by four weeks starting in 2007. Daylight-saving time normally begins on the last Sunday in March or the first Sunday in April, and ends on the last Sunday in October.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 shifts the start date to the second Sunday in March and extends the period until the first Sunday in November. It's unclear if the change is permanent.

U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who pushed for years to extend daylight-saving time until Halloween to make it safer for kids to trick-or-treat, hailed the federal legislation. He also credited Sharon Rasmussen's Highland Park Elementary School class in Sheridan, which encouraged him to take up the issue with a letter-writing campaign. Enzi is a former student at Highland Park.

Wyoming residents appeared split on Cooper's bill.

Al Wiederspahn, a lawyer in Cheyenne, said he enjoys the longer summer days.

"It has the effect of seeming to extend the day so there is more time after work to do all kinds of things," Wiederspahn said.

But Carpenter resident Steve Foster said his kids struggle with the twice-annual time change, and his mom recently moved from Wyoming to Arizona and enjoys standard time all year.

"I think farmers are going to be up from daylight to dark regardless of what time the clock says it is," Foster said.

Cooper said he's hopeful about his legislation, but with around 400 bills already headed to the Legislature this January, and many serious matters to address, he's not sure his bill will see the light of day.

NewsTracker

* Last we knew: A change in federal law will extend daylight-saving time by four weeks starting in 2007.

* The latest: Four lawmakers are sponsoring a bill to exempt Wyoming from daylight-saving time.

* What's next: The bill's prospects are uncertain in the coming legislative session.

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.