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Central Time Debate Rages On

Last updated on Wednesday, October 30, 2013

(INDIANAPOLIS) - As Indiana prepares to “fall back” for the seventh time since the state began observing daylight saving time approaches, some are still fighting to switch time zones.

Early Sunday morning, daylight saving time ends, and clocks will be turned back an hour in Indiana.

Most of the state is in the Eastern time zone, except for some counties in the southwestern part of the state near Evansville and in the northwestern part of the state near Chicago.

The time zone debate has been going on for decades in Indiana, but Eastern time opponents have been more vocal since 2005.

Before the change pushed by former Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005, Indiana did not observe daylight saving time, meaning most of the state was out of sync with the rest of the U.S. for half the year.

The Central Time Coalition earlier this month petitioned the Department of Transportation to move most of the state to Central time, citing "the detrimental effects on Indiana's citizens."

The move came after several efforts to request a time zone change failed in the Indiana Legislature.

In its petition, the Central Time Coalition argued that dividing the state into two time zones is detrimental for several reasons, including an argument that "it complicates business travel and exacerbates effects of jet lag" when traveling to and from the West Coast.

The coalition also argues that having two time zones in Indiana is detrimental to intrastate commerce and advocates moving the entire state, aside from some counties near Cincinnati and Louisville, to Central time.

CTC said it believes Indiana should continue to observe DST.

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