Current:Home > FinancePermanent daylight saving time? Politicians keep trying to make it a reality. -WealthPro Academy
Permanent daylight saving time? Politicians keep trying to make it a reality.
View
Date:2025-04-26 08:19:35
Americans are yet again preparing for the twice-yearly ritual of adjusting the clocks by an hour, and a group of politicians are sick of it.
Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio have used the upcoming time change to remind Americans about the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act the U.S. Senate unanimously passed in 2022 to make daylight saving time permanent. The bill was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2023. Scott said in Friday a release the bill is supported by both lawmakers and Americans.
"It’s time for Congress to act and I’m proud to be leading the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act with Senator Rubio to get this done," Scott said.
Most Americans - 62% - are in favor of ending the time change, according to an Economist/YouGov poll from last year.
To Change or Not to Change:Do Americans like daylight saving time? 6 in 10 want to stop changing their clocks. Do you?
Only Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation), Hawaii and the U.S. territories follow standard time yearound. In the rest of the country, standard time runs from the first Sunday of November until the second Sunday of March. But clocks spring forward an hour from March to November to allow for more daylight during summer evenings.
Federal law prevents states from following daylight saving time permanently.
Rubio's bill failed to make it to President Joe Biden's desk in 2022. Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan, R- Brandon, introduced the act in the House last March for the current congressional session.
"We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth," Rubio said in a Tuesday release.
Time change bills across America
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 28 bills have been introduced this year regarding daylight saving time and 36 carried over from the previous legislative session.
About two dozen states are considering enacting permanent daylight saving time if Congress allowed such a change. Twenty other states have legislation under consideration to have permanent standard time.
Several states, NCSL said, have legislation dependent on their neighbors following the same time change.
We've tried this before, and it didn't go well
Daylight saving time was made official in 1918 when the Standard Time Act became law, but it was quickly reversed at the national level after World War I ended, only coming up again when World War II began. Since then, Americans have tried eliminating the biannual time change, but it didn't last long.
From February 1942 until September 1945, the U.S. took on what became known as "War Time," when Congress voted to make daylight saving time year-round during the war in an effort to conserve fuel. When it ended, states were able to establish their own standard time until 1966 when Congress finally passed the Uniform Time Act, standardizing national time and establishing current-day daylight saving time.
Most recently, amid an energy crisis in 1973, former President Richard Nixon signed a bill putting the U.S. on daylight saving time starting in January 1974. While the American public at first liked the idea, soon "the experiment ... ran afoul of public opinion," The New York Times reported in October 1974. Sunrises that could be as late as 9:30 a.m. some places in parts of winter became increasingly unpopular. It didn't take long for Congress to reverse course in October 1974.
Today, the public seems ready for another change, fed up with disruptions to sleep and routines, which research has suggested can contribute to health issues and even safety problems. For now, prepare to reset your clocks, and your sleep schedules, once again this Sunday.
Contributing: Celina Tebor, Emily DeLetter USA TODAY; USA TODAY Network-Florida
veryGood! (8)
Related
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers deal prompts California controller to ask Congress to cap deferred payments
- National title puts Michigan at No. 1 in college football's final NCAA Re-Rank 1-133
- Who's on the 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? What to know about election, voting
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Germany’s last major department store chain files for insolvency protection for the third time
- Vatican’s doctrine chief is raising eyebrows over his 1998 book that graphically describes orgasms
- Will Johnson, Mike Sainristil and Michigan’s stingy D clamps down on Washington’s deep passing game
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Who's on the 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? What to know about election, voting
Ranking
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- How Texas officials stymied nonprofits' efforts to help migrants they bused to northern cities
- A new discovery in the muscles of long COVID patients may explain exercise troubles
- Duct-taped and beaten to death over potty training. Mom will now spend 42 years in prison.
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- 3 firefighters injured when firetruck collides with SUV, flips onto its side in southern Illinois
- Nearly a third of Americans expect mortgage rates to fall in 2024
- Michigan's Jim Harbaugh has a title, seat at the 'big person's table.' So is this goodbye?
Recommendation
NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
I’m a Shopping Editor, Here Is My New Year’s Skincare Resolutions List for 2024
Bonuses for college football coaches soar to new heights; Harbaugh sets record with haul
Australia bans Nazi salute, swastika, other hate symbols in public as antisemitism spikes
Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
At Golden Globes, Ayo Edebiri of The Bear thanks her agent's assistants, the people who answer my emails
Bottled water contains up to 100 times more plastic than previously estimated, new study says
'Poor Things' director praises Bruce Springsteen during Golden Globes acceptance speech: Watch