UPDATE: Daylight saving time bill passes

INDIANAPOLIS - When 47 states spring forward an hour next April to mark the beginning of daylight-saving time once again, all of Indiana is expected to join them for the first time in decades.\nIt will mark the end of Indiana's holdout on changing its clocks, and a freshman state representative who just a few weeks ago vowed to oppose the time switch is sure to get plenty of statewide fame - and blame - for making it so.\nIn an April 11 column to constituents in his southwestern Indiana district, freshman Republican Rep. Troy Woodruff of Vincennes said he had received overwhelming feedback from them to fight against legislation mandating statewide observance of daylight-saving time.\n"I have and will continue to always vote against this controversial piece of legislation," he wrote.\nBut shortly after 11:30 p.m. EST Thursday, during a second House vote on the bill, Woodruff switched his no vote and provided a 51st "yea" to give it final legislative approval and send the proposal to Gov. Mitch Daniels.\nDaniels is sure to sign the bill into law after he lobbied extensively for the proposal, saying it would eliminate confusion and boost commerce.\nHouse Speaker Brian Bosma called the 51-46 tally one of the most "heroic" votes he had seen in his 20 years in the General Assembly.\n"I can tell you that the rest of the nation, the rest of the world, knows that Indiana doesn't get it," Bosma said during debate. "Now is the day to tell the rest of the world that we are willing to step into the 21st century."\nProponents of the clock change, who failed to win passage of the bill earlier in the day, cheered wildly after it passed. The law would take effect next April, when all states except most of Arizona and all of Hawaii would again observe the time change.\nWoodruff said he changed his vote Thursday because the issue had become too partisan and he wanted to move on to bigger matters such as the two-year state budget. He said he was prepared to return home and explain his switch to constituents.\n"Some things are more important than re-election," he said.\nEfforts to make the time switch have failed more than two dozen times since most of the state's 92 counties opted out of the time change under state and federal legislation passed in the early 1970s.\nIts path to passage was rough and rocky all session long, but Daniels lobbied hard for the bill. Dozens of businesses and their lobbying groups backed the bill, saying the current system causes mix-ups over airline flights, delivery times and conference calls.\nThe House voted 49-48 against the bill earlier Thursday. That vote, however, did not kill the legislation because it takes a constitutional majority of 51 votes to pass a bill or defeat one outright.\nSeventy-seven counties in the Eastern time zone portion of Indiana remain on standard time year round, while five in southeastern Indiana ignore state and federal law and change their clocks. Five counties each in the northwest and southwest pockets of the state are in the Central zone and observe daylight time.\nThe legislation would require that Daniels and the General Assembly petition the U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates times zones, to hold hearings to determine if more Indiana counties should be moved to the Central zone.\nThe request would have to be made within days of Daniels' signing the bill, and he has said the hearing process could begin within months.\nOpponents of the bill cited several reasons for voting against it. Among other things, some said most of their constituents were against it and some doubted it would do much if anything to boost the economy.\n"This is not the second coming that is going to take Indiana into a brighter future," said Rep. William Crawford, D-Indianapolis.