Daylight Saving Time
Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:26 pm
Could today be the last time we have to change the clocks?
There has been increasing support for the movement to end the biannual time changes for a good while now, and it's really picked up in earnest recently with 18 states passing resolutions to mandate year-round daylight saving time in the last four years. Even though they have all agreed to it though, their legislation isn't able to take effect for a complex reason that's actually pretty interesting, in a pedantic way.
The federal Uniform Time Act doesn't allow for year-round daylight saving time. For a state to enact that, their resolutions must each be approved by congress. There is a way to avoid that requirement; a state can exempt itself from daylight saving time changes by remaining in standard time year-round. This is what Arizona and Hawaii do. So if it was simply about not wanting to change clocks anymore they could decide to do that and it could go into effect without needing congressional approval. But these states want to specifically end the time changes while in daylight saving time, as that has shown indications of being better for individual health and economic productivity compared to standard time. Because of this, all these efforts have stalled and the states are continuing to spring forward and fall back each year even though they have approved legislation to stop doing so.
That hangup may finally become moot. The Sunshine Protection Act has been introduced before congress to make daylight saving time permanent on the federal level. This is the third attempt at passing this bill, it was first introduced in 2018 and again in 2019 but both died in committee. It has seen a large increase in cosponsors each time though, including this one, so we'll see what happens with it this time.
There has been increasing support for the movement to end the biannual time changes for a good while now, and it's really picked up in earnest recently with 18 states passing resolutions to mandate year-round daylight saving time in the last four years. Even though they have all agreed to it though, their legislation isn't able to take effect for a complex reason that's actually pretty interesting, in a pedantic way.
The federal Uniform Time Act doesn't allow for year-round daylight saving time. For a state to enact that, their resolutions must each be approved by congress. There is a way to avoid that requirement; a state can exempt itself from daylight saving time changes by remaining in standard time year-round. This is what Arizona and Hawaii do. So if it was simply about not wanting to change clocks anymore they could decide to do that and it could go into effect without needing congressional approval. But these states want to specifically end the time changes while in daylight saving time, as that has shown indications of being better for individual health and economic productivity compared to standard time. Because of this, all these efforts have stalled and the states are continuing to spring forward and fall back each year even though they have approved legislation to stop doing so.
That hangup may finally become moot. The Sunshine Protection Act has been introduced before congress to make daylight saving time permanent on the federal level. This is the third attempt at passing this bill, it was first introduced in 2018 and again in 2019 but both died in committee. It has seen a large increase in cosponsors each time though, including this one, so we'll see what happens with it this time.
