A seemingly popular bill to do away with the annual “fall back” portion of daylight saving time has cleared its last Alabama legislative hurdle ahead of an upcoming vote before the full House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by Alabama Sen. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro), sailed through the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee on Wednesday, setting up a final House vote. The Alabama Senate already has approved the bill.

House Rep. Corey Harbison (R-Good Hope) sits on the Economic Development committee, and said the bill met with no opposition on Wednesday. “There was unanimous support in committee,” Harbison said. “Out of everything that I hear about from local constituents, daylight saving is probably among the top two or three topics that people would really like to see addressed.”

If the bill passes and is signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, it wouldn’t automatically alter the annual time change statewide. Rather, the bill (SB388) is a pre-emptive measure aimed at smoothing such a transition if — or when — the U.S. Congress approves similar Daylight Saving legislation at the federal level.

“Congress would still have to pass a national act before this would become law in Alabama or anywhere else, but this streamlines our ability to make the change in Alabama if that happens,” Harbison explained. Several other states already have approved similar measures — both to show support for abolishing Daylight Saving Time, as well as to prepare for a nation-wide shift, should Congress take action.

Harbison said he sees no obstacles to the bill becoming law. “I believe that if it comes to a vote of the full House, it’ll have no problem passing,” he said. “While it won’t automatically shift us over, it’ll have us ready. Doing away with Daylight Saving Time just adds consistency that we don’t currently have, and I think there are a lot of reasons — even reasons related to winter depression and health — why people want to see Congress take action on it.”