The chamber gutted a bill about ambulances and replaced it with language that would effectively do away with daylight saving time.

Eliminating the semiannual back and forth shifts in the Eastern time zone would require an act of Congress. Since it might be easier to alter the rotation of the sun, the state Senate opted for moving Georgia eastward on the time map, to the zone occupied by places such as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to the north and Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to the south.

House Bill 154 would shift Georgia from the Eastern to the Atlantic time zone, aligning the state with parts of Canada and the Caribbean that do not wobble between standard and daylight saving time.

No act of Congress required, just permission from the U.S. Transportation secretary.

HB 154 would require that Gov. Brian Kemp seek that permission. Should Congress ever grant authority for year-round daylight saving time, the governor would be obliged to request a return to the Eastern zone.

One of his allies, Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, is responsible for the new language in the bill.

“Every time we change the clock, we create confusion for families, for businesses, for schools, and for anyone trying to maintain a consistent routine,” Hatchett told his fellow senators Monday. “And for what? The evidence that this system does what it was originally intended to do is weak at best. But the evidence that it disrupts people’s lives, that is overwhelming.”

Sleep, workplace productivity and safety all suffer, he said.

One source of opposition to such a shift in the past has come from parents concerned about their little ones catching a school bus in lingering darkness.

But schools could adjust start times to address local concerns as needed, he said, using a scalpel to address seasonal changes in daylight rather than forcing millions to adapt to a changing clock.

The only critic was a fellow Republican, Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, who observed that Georgia would be as much as two to three hours out of step with neighboring states at some points on the calendar.

But Sen. Nikki Merritt, D-Grayson, said children suffer even more than adults under the current order.

“I remember when I had small children and what children thrive on is a routine,” she said. “And every time the time changes back and forth, that routine gets disrupted.”

She added that if Georgia leads, other states might follow, a message echoed later by Hatchett.

The measure passed 45-5, with Setzler joined in opposition by four Democrats, including Sen. Harold Jones, II, D-Augusta, the minority leader.

This led Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to quip that it was “the most interesting coalition of nays I’ve ever seen.”

Hatchett, who is a floor leader for Kemp, said later that he was not pushing the bill for the governor. It now goes to the House for consideration of the amendment.