Indiana time switch federally OK'd

INDIANAPOLIS -- The federal agency that oversees the nation's time zones has given Indiana permission to move the state to daylight-saving time in June if state lawmakers still debating the proposal approve the switch.\nDaylight-saving time began Sunday for most of the nation, but the U.S. Department of Transportation has endorsed a proposal that calls for residents in most of Indiana to begin observing daylight-saving time for the first time on June 5.\nIn a letter Friday to Gov. Mitch Daniels, an assistant general counsel for the Transportation Department wrote that the initial change date to daylight-saving time can legally take place on a date other than the first Sunday in April.\nThe department, which monitors the country's time, would take no enforcement action against Indiana, attorney Neil R. Eisner wrote.\nThe letter came after an effort Friday afternoon by the governor's office to clarify federal law on daylight-saving time, a contentious issue before the Indiana General Assembly and one of Daniels' top legislative priorities.\nEarlier Friday, a Transportation Department spokesman said it would take an act of Congress to switch Indiana to daylight-saving time beginning at 2 a.m. on June 5, as is called for in the time-change bill.\nIt turned out that all it took was a call from the governor's office to resolve the issue.\nDaniels said he sees no problem with a June 5 start date.\n"We think it's within the state's ability to join the rest of the world at our discretion," he said.\nFederal law requires states observing daylight-saving time to move their clocks one hour forward at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in April, and roll them back an hour on the last Sunday in October.\nIndiana would observe those dates after the initial switch.\nIndiana's time-change bill, Senate Bill 127, could be voted on by the full House as early as Tuesday. The bill was approved last week 8-4 in the House's public policy committee, signaling strong support in the Republican-controlled House.\nSenate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, R-Columbus, said Friday he thought a majority of senators would vote for it.\nDaniels has said moving all of Indiana to daylight-saving time would boost commerce and end confusion. Of Indiana's 92 counties, 82 are in the Eastern time zone, but 77 of those do not observe daylight-saving time.\nFive counties in the Eastern time zone -- two near Cincinnati and three near Louisville, Ky. -- do switch their clocks with the rest of the nation. Ten other counties on Central time -- five in northwestern Indiana and five in southwestern Indiana -- also will move ahead one hour Sunday in observance of daylight-saving time.