INDIANAPOLIS -- State lawmakers are discussing a possible resolution that would ask the federal government to put Indiana in the Central time zone, according to a Merrillville Democrat.

Discussion

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State Rep. Chester Dobis, who has opposed previous attempts to put much of Indiana under daylight-saving time in the Eastern time zone, said unifying the state under Central time could be palatable.

"There'll be some meetings this week and probably next week to help resolve the problem, hopefully in this session," Dobis told RTV6's Norman Cox Monday.

Dobis' statement came on the same day that Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels said he wants to move most of Indiana to the Central time zone and have it observe daylight-saving time statewide.

Last month, Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis said all of Indiana should observe daylight-saving and Central time. She said the state won't be competitive as a distribution and logistics center unless it makes the switch.

Daniels said the time change would put Indiana within two hours of everyone in the continental United States and make it easier for companies inside and outside the state to do business.

Currently, 82 counties in Indiana are in the Eastern time zone, but 77 of them do not observe daylight-saving time. Five counties in the southeast are in the Eastern time zone and do reset their clocks.

Five counties in the northwest corner of the state near Chicago -- including Dobis' district -- and five in the southwest corner in and around Evansville are in the Central time zone and observe daylight-saving time.

A resolution, if it passes the House and Senate, would ask the federal Department of Transportation to hold hearings on the issue. If the federal government determines that Hoosiers prefer Central time, it could put Indiana in the Central zone.

Indiana law already stipulates that any county observing Central time must also observe daylight-saving time.

Dobis opposed previous plans to have the Eastern-time counties observe daylight-saving time because the move would have put his district one hour behind year-round. As it is, Indiana's 10 Central-time counties are one hour behind the bulk of the state for six months.

Dobis said the current push for Central time was happening before the declarations of support from the likes of Daniels and Davis.

Gov. Joe Kernan said in January that he'd like to see the state observe daylight-saving time, but he didn't indicate his time-zone preference. However, on Monday, Kernan said Central might make more sense.

"I think it's one of those things that more and more people are talking about and recognize that it is a cost-free measure that we can implement that will help us as we are doing more and more business," Kernan said.