It’s that time of the year when we set the clocks back one hour, returning to standard time and giving us an extra hour of sleep this weekend.
This brings up the conversation of why not just stay on daylight saving time year round?
However, it’s not that easy. The path to accomplish this includes federal approval.
Why we change the clocks twice a year
The United States began the concept of daylight saving time in 1918, during World War I, to save fuel. By advancing one hour ahead, coal-fired energy would assist the war effort rather than that hour at home.
Standard time returned following the war and continued until World War II. After World War II, some states and cities kept daylight saving time, creating various time zones within regions. Frustrated with no uniform time, the public pushed Congress to pass the Uniform Time Act in 1966.
This established that daylight saving time would begin the last Sunday in April and end the last Sunday in October.
In 1987, it extended to include the first Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October.
Part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the modern daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
This current time shift began in 2007.
Not everyone participates
Hawaii doesn’t take part because of its location. With not much variation throughout the year between sunrise and sunset, it made little sense to switch the clocks.
Only the Navajo Nation in Arizona observes daylight saving time. The rest of the state exempted itself in 1968.
They cited the heat as their reason for opting out, adding that if they switched the clocks ahead one hour, the sun would not set until 9 p.m. in the summer, limiting nighttime activities.
Current legislation
The Department of Transportation oversees daylight saving time and all the country’s time zones.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “Federal law allows a state to exempt itself from observing daylight saving time, upon action by the state legislature, but does not allow the permanent observance of DST.”
Nineteen states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, but await federal approval.
Permanent standard time does not need federal approval. Nine states actively have legislation as of Sept. 2023 that would end daylight saving time and stay on standard time year-round.
Those states are:
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- New York
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Vermont
However, none of these pieces of legislation have passed and are all marked ‘pending,’ so the switch back to daylight saving time come March is inevitable.
Sunshine Protection Act
On March 15, 2022, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously in favor of the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent, meaning Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year to account for the time change.
While the Senate passed the bill, 18 months later it remains stalled in the House and has not been signed into law by President Biden.
The future
For now, legislation to observe daylight saving time year-round remains pending.
Other states will continue to perform case studies and collect data to see if this shift is beneficial in saving energy, helping improve health and reducing crime.
And so we will change our clocks back one hour this Sunday and then on March 10, 2024, we will change the clocks forward one hour, returning to daylight saving time.
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