Times are defiantly getting tough when you are asking to be banned to make sales on a certain day. My state, Texas, already has such laws in place or I suppose they would be asking too. They could voluntarily close on Sundays could they not? However, for obvious reasons that would not work.

Oregon’s struggling auto dealers plan to ask the Legislature to impose “blue laws” prohibiting car sales on Sunday.

The day off would help them cut costs during an economic downturn that has already put 19 Oregon dealerships out of business this year. Nationally, sales of domestic cars declined more than 35 percent in 2008.

Greg Remensperger, executive vice president of the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association, told The Oregonian newspaper his members strongly favor the measure.

“No question, there’s some troubled times out there,” Remensperger said.

It’s unclear if legislators will take to the idea. The plan wouldn’t cost the state anything, but lawmakers already have a full plate when their session starts next month. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, said he hadn’t heard of the proposal and didn’t know enough about it to comment.

Eleven other states have a similar prohibition on Sunday auto sales.