A Quincy man wants to shift Massachusetts into Atlantic Time -- the same as Nova Scotia -- during the period of the year that is now Eastern Standard Time.
The shift would put Massachusetts an hour ahead of its bordering states for about four months each year. It also means clocks would not be set ahead when Daylight Savings Time begins each year.
Tom Emswiler, writing in the Boston Globe, said science supports his argument.
"The idea of defecting from our time zone might seem strange. Yet the emerging science and the geographic reality of life in New England make it an idea worth serious consideration," Emswiler wrote.
Emswiler persuaded his state senator, John Keenan, to sponsor a bill ordering a study of the idea. Legislators were hearing testimony on the bill Tuesday in Holyoke.
