Sounds about right.

Massachusetts did it all the time.

Big money, big money, no whammies. Stop.

No state legislature, or Congress for that matter, can really fulfill the proper duties of a legislature when the powers and responsibilities they've assumed far exceed what they could even be aware of, much less be well-informed on. And the answer isn't more or better legislators, it's fewer laws.

Awesome.

Time is measured; authority to set said measure is held by the Federal government, and legally delegated to the NIST. Thus, it's not a state power, so the action is obviously unconstitutional.

Ah, just like the old "Turn off the lights and microphones stick you fingers in your ears and say nyah nyah nyah I can't hear you" trick.

OtherLittleGuy: Massachusetts did it all the time.

I thought Massachusetts just pencil-whipped through the issues to get done in time. There was a story about it just last week.

Massachusetts kept working past the deadline. Unfortunately we do not have a constitutionally-mandated part time legislature.

they ordered the clocks stopped so that midnight would not technically happen until they were ready for it.

Reminds me of King Canute for some reason.

Time is an abstract concept created by carbon based life forms to measure their on-going decay.

abb3w: Time is measured; authority to set said measure is held by the Federal government, and legally delegated to the NIST. Thus, it's not a state power, so the action is obviously unconstitutional.

Congress has the authority to "fix the standard of weights and measures", but they have no authority to compel their use by any one (at least not any power inherent in that specific clause). In fact, state legislatures routinely made decisions about time zones and were doing so long before there was any Federal law on the matter.

Which does raise the interesting question as to whether or not a state legislature could conceivably change the calendar, a somewhat separate issue from the 24-hour clock.

Churchill2004: abb3w: Time is measured; authority to set said measure is held by the Federal government, and legally delegated to the NIST. Thus, it's not a state power, so the action is obviously unconstitutional.

Congress has the authority to "fix the standard of weights and measures", but they have no authority to compel their use by any one (at least not any power inherent in that specific clause).

I think we're all missing a very key point here. Time doesn't stop just because the clocks do, no matter which jurisdiction they're in.

The meaning of a state constitutional provision is for the state to decide. Federal judges have no power to order state officials to obey state law. (See Pennhurst v. Halderman, a U.S. Supreme Court case from the 1980s.) The court could decide that a political day ends when the clock physically strikes 12 or the last politician passes out.

For "the court" read "the state supreme court".

ninjakirby: I think we're all missing a very key point here. Time doesn't stop just because the clocks do, no matter which jurisdiction they're in

I was just talking hypothetically. Even if a state legislature did manage to change the calendar, I'd be surprised if any court ruled that constitutionally mandated dates wouldn't be enforced under the calendar in effect when the mandate was passed.

This is old news. Last year they removed all calendars and therefore claimed nothing was evolving....

Headline in article: 'Stop-the-clock' practice ruled unconstitutional

I'd change it to say 'Stop-the-clock' concept ruled retarded

How did they do nothing in 60 days, but were somehow able to do a ton of shiat with one extra hour?

Churchill2004: In fact, state legislatures routinely made decisions about time zones and were doing so long before there was any Federal law on the matter.

Indeed, although such federal law exists. I considered that. And, if they planned ahead a bit, they could mess with what timezone the state used (as I think Indiana did a bit back) and possibly accomplish this (switching briefly to, say, Alaska time)... but it would take passing a law. Ergo, they'd either have to get the Governor in on the game to sign the law, or do it enough beforehand to let him sit on it, reject it, and still have time to override the veto.

Mind you, Judges tend to frown on those sort of dirty tricks political shenanigans....

I'll be honest here. Since this isn't happening in my state, I find it utterly hilarious. If it were in my state, I'd probably be pissed.

Hooray for Federalism!

I came for the Jack Bauer references, but I guess THERE WASN'T ENOUGH TIME!