The Traveling Adjunct

But first, a bit of history....According to the U.S. Department of Transportation website:

“Federal oversight of time zones began in 1918 with the enactment of the Standard Time Act, which vested the Interstate Commerce Commission with the responsibility for establishing boundaries between the standard time zones in the continental United States. This responsibility was transferred from the Interstate Commerce Commission to DOT when Congress created DOT in 1966.

Today, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. §§ 260-64) establishes a system of uniform Daylight Saving Time throughout the Nation and its possessions, and provides that either Congress or the Secretary of Transportation can change a time-zone boundary.“

Back to the States... Hawaii.  Why do you need DST when you basically live in paradise? I don’t know if that’s what Hawaii was thinking when it became the first state to ditch DST in 1968, opting out of the Uniform Time Act, but they are the most southerly state. Because that, Hawaii enjoys lots of sun, so it probably wasn’t a big advantage for it to observe DST. In fact, the last time Hawaii actually observed at all was during World War II! Arizona is another sun-filled state that took a pass on DST in 1968. With the exception of the Navajo Nation, situated in the northeastern part of the state, Arizona doesn’t do DST. The primary reason the Navajo Nation observes DST is so that it can maintain a uniform time with other parts of the Nation that are in states that do observe DST - Utah and New Mexico.But wait, there’s more!  A number of U.S. Territories don’t observe DST either. And yup, you guessed it – those places are pretty sunny most of the year, too. Those territories include,

• Puerto Rico

• The U.S. Virgin Islands

• American Samoa

• Guam

Enjoy your extra hour of sleep!

Tina Vignali is an English as a Second Language adjunct at the Charles D. Worthington Atlantic City Campus. She writes a travel-themed column for the CommuniCator.