Nevada resolution caught up in congressional channels

As I walked out to my car a little after 5 p.m. on Nov. 2, it was already dark, reminding me of what had taken place the day before.

The dreaded end of daylight saving time.

Then I was reminded of Assembly Joint Resolution 4, to which state lawmakers dedicated a good bit of time during the 2015 session. And I thought, "What happened with that?"

The answer to this point: Absolutely nothing.

The resolution, sponsored by Republican Assemblymen Chris Edwards and Derek Armstrong, proposed ending the charade of winding clocks forward and backward every year and instead putting Nevada on permanent daylight saving time, preserving some early evening sunshine in the winter. It sailed through the Assembly on a 30-12 vote in April, then passed the Senate 12-8, with one abstention.

The Legislature was required to forward the resolution to Congress for its blessing, which must be gained by the end of 2016 so the 2017 Legislature can finalize the move. Because the resolution easily passed with broad bipartisan support, with proponents in both rural and urban areas, it seemed someone in Nevada's congressional delegation would be happy to take up the cause and introduce a bill to allow the state to stop springing forward and falling back.

But for a federal lawmaker to do that, one has to actually see the resolution first. And after calls and emails to all six members of the Nevada delegation — Sens. Harry Reid and Dean Heller, and Reps. Joe Heck, Mark Amodei, Dina Titus and Cresent Hardy — it became clear that neither they nor anyone else in their offices had seen the resolution.

I was reminded of a scene from what I consider the best newspaper movie ever, "Fletch." (And that probably says more than I'd like about my opinion.) Fletch's editor points out a full-page ad the newspaper is running to tout a huge story Fletch is working on. Says the editor: "Try to follow me. You can't run the ad and then not run the story." Replies Fletch, played by Chevy Chase: "Why not? … Really?"

Well, you can't expect to enact the resolution if Congress doesn't see it. As Brian Baluta, communications director for Amodei, said: "We haven't seen the legislation, so we can't take a position or introduce a bill."

Now, in defense of the Legislature, this might not be entirely its fault. Last week, Armstrong was surprised to learn that nobody in Congress knew of the resolution. So he checked into it and said that after the resolution passed both state chambers, the chief clerk of the Assembly not only forwarded it to Nevada's congressional delegation, but also to Vice President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker John Boehner.

"The letters were mailed out at the end of May," Armstrong said.

And yet, more than five months later, with nightfall hitting before most people get out of work, everybody in Washington, D.C., is still in the dark on this?

Some might argue that this resolution shouldn't be a high priority for our delegation, and that it therefore went to the bottom of inboxes and simply hasn't surfaced yet. But this is a measure that imposes no costs on taxpayers and directly improves their quality of life, by sparing them the semi-annual agony of feeling drowsy and disoriented for days because of pointless clock manipulation. Sen. Reid's office said this week that he supports the resolution but has no record of receiving it.

How about a little due diligence on the part of Nevada legislators? Forty-two of them worked to approve this resolution, purportedly representing the wishes of their constituents — you know, the taxpayers who fund all the goings-on in Carson City. Where is the follow-up?

Considering the reminder we got last week, and the continuing reminder we'll get for the next 40 days as sundown gets earlier and earlier, a lightbulb should have flashed in legislators' heads.

Come on, we're burning daylight.

Patrick Everson peverson@reviewjournal.com is an editorial writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickCEverson