Where the Push to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent Stands

Come Sunday, Nov. 5, many Americans may lament the loss of an hour of sunlight in the evenings as clocks are set back an hour, and Daylight Saving Time ends. 

The practice has long been controversial. A March 2022 poll by Monmouth University found that one in three Americans prefer to keep the continue the biannual clock-resetting process as it stands, but more Americans (six out of 10) would prefer to do away with the twice-a-year change.

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Legislators have previously voiced support to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, but whether that will happen in the future remains in limbo. “It’s time to put a stop to the twice-a-year time-change madness,” said U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, a cosponsor of a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, in March. That bill, however, has not seen any movement this year.

Here’s what to know about Daylight Saving time. 

Where does the effort to end Daylight Saving Time stand?

In March, Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act, a law that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent year round.

Although the proposed legislation was first introduced in 2018, the bill saw the most movement in 2022, when the Senate passed the bill unanimously. But now legislation to change Daylight Saving Time remains in limbo. The bill didn’t come up for a vote in the House of Representatives in 2022, and this year’s version of the bill has not even passed the Senate Committee.

When will the clocks turn this year?

Daylight Saving Time changes on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday of November.

This year, the clocks will change on Nov. 5 at 2 a.m. local time. After that point, the U.S. will abide by standard time.  

What is the history of Daylight Saving Time?

Daylight Saving Time—a practice followed by several North American and European countries—causes clocks to move forward one hour every spring and back every fall. 

It’s a practice that dates back to over a century ago, when several countries began to implement the clock change in an attempt to save energy during World War I. Germany was the first country to run by daylight saving time, and eventually the U.S. caught on in March 1918, almost a year after joining the global war. 

The twice yearly tradition of changing the clock, however, did not become permanent until the Uniform Act of 1966. 

Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that do not observe daylight saving time, though the Navajo Nation in Arizona does not abide by this schedule. Other territories including American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not follow this schedule, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Some states, like Oregon and Washington, have passed laws to make daylight saving time year-round. But because they rely on approval from Congress to make the actual change, the practice has not been implemented.