State passes bills for daylight-saving, new Colts stadium

INDIANAPOLIS -- The daylight-saving bill, which dominated the legislative session, marks 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.