Time Bill Advances After Negotiator Dismissed

INDIANAPOLIS -- A compromise bill that would mandate daylight-saving time in Indiana advanced to a Senate panel Thursday after Republicans dismissed an opponent from a negotiating team.

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Video: Opponent Replaced With Bill Supporter

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Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma removed Rep. Dave Crooks, D-Washington, from a four-person House-Senate conference committee examining the plan. All four members of the panel needed to sign off on the bill before it advanced, but Crooks had declined.

Taking Crooks' place was Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne, a supporter of daylight-saving time. Borror and the panel's three other members OK'd the plan, sending it to the Senate Rules Committee, RTV6's Norman Cox reported.

Normally conference committees, which hash out House and Senate differences on bills, have a Republican and a Democrat from each chamber. But sometimes the party in the majority can take members of the minority party off the panel, and that is what happened Thursday, Cox reported.

The plan would put all of Indiana on daylight-saving time but require the General Assembly and Gov. Mitch Daniels to seek federal proceedings on whether more of the state should be in the Central time zone.

When the conference committee met Thursday morning, three of its four members said they would sign off on the plan. But Crooks refused to supply a fourth signature needed to advance the bill, saying the state should seek federal hearings on possible time zone changes first.

Crooks said 81 percent of constituents in his southwestern Indiana district oppose Eastern daylight time.

"The reason we don't have a consensus on this issue is because Hoosiers don't have a consensus on this issue," Crooks said.

Sen. Marvin Riegsecker, R-Goshen, told Crooks that he would be removed from the panel.

"If your signature won't be there, then we'll have a replacement for you," Riegsecker said. "I hate to do that to you, but that's the way we have to move this issue ahead."

Republicans noted that they already had given in to Crooks' previous requests, including that the bill make the state petition the federal government to hold hearings on whether more of Indiana should be moved to Central time.

The bill would have to pass the Senate Rules Committee, the full Senate and win House passage again to land on the desk of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Daniels has lobbied extensively for statewide daylight time, saying it would eliminate confusion and make it easier for businesses to operate.

The issue has been contentious for decades in Indiana, and this year has been no different. It took two votes to pass the bill in the House this month, and cleared a second tally only because three Republicans switched their votes.