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As Utahns "fall back" an hour Sunday to end daylight saving time for the year, state Rep. Fred Cox, R-West Valley City, hopes to end such biannual clock-switching forever.

He plans to introduce a bill next year "that would essentially move us to Arizona time," or stay on standard time all year, as do Arizona and Hawaii.

That will continue years of debate about whether to dump daylight saving time.

"But I've never actually seen it debated on the House floor — just in committee," Cox said Friday. "Enough people want to end daylight saving time that I think it deserves to have a full debate by everyone. That's what I'm hoping for."

Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry, sponsored a similar bill last year, but it never emerged from the Rules Committee. Sen. Aaron Osmond, R-South Jordan, pushed a competing bill essentially to keep Utah on daylight saving time all year, but it died in committee on a tie vote.

Both bills came after the state performed a big survey in 2014, ordered through a bill passed by former Rep. Ronda Menlove, R-Garland. The Governor's Office of Economic Development that year held several hearings, huddled with key industries and conducted a nonscientific online survey that attracted 27,000 responses.

Not only did Utahns answer that survey's multiple-choice questions, but 13,000 left written responses that were often lengthy and passionate. They submitted 574,000 words, nearly the number of words in the novel "War and Peace."

In the final tally, 67 percent of respondents favored keeping Mountain Standard Time all year, as Cox now proposes. Another 18 percent wanted a new system to keep daylight saving time all year. In last place, 15 percent preferred the current system.

"Most people said they want to get rid of daylight saving time," Cox said. "So I think that deserves a full debate. I look forward to a good debate on policy."

Cox himself can argue the pros and cons. When asked which he personally prefers, he says he would favor something not possible by state action — erasing federal action in 2007 that lengthened daylight saving time by four weeks.

Cox said he is seeking to eliminate daylight saving time "mostly because of concerns about safety." He said children going to school in the dark in early fall may lead to more traffic accidents.

Of course, the change he seeks is one way to stop "falling back" an hour and also "springing forward" during the year. Cox said he hears from many people that the two changes create "a sort of jet lag" for them and makes it hard for many to physically adjust.

But Cox says he also understands people who worry about changing the current system.

For example, the state noted in its study last year that sports leagues would be challenged to fit in all their games without the extra hour of sunlight in summer evenings, and golf courses would lose money.

The Lagoon amusement park told the state it would lose one hour of revenue daily in its prime season. The Salt Lake Chamber and the ski industry also told the state they preferred the current system to reduce confusion with travelers and tourists by being on a different system than most of the nation.

"There are a lot of good reasons" not to change, Cox acknowledged. "I could live with whatever we decide, but I think we need a full debate."