Republican Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.)
reintroduced legislation Wednesday that would “lock the clock” and render daylight saving time permanent, stating President-elect Donald Trump was “fully on board.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
first introduced the Sunshine Protection Act in 2018 after the Florida Legislature passed a similar bill asking Congress to end the twice-annual practice of meddling with the time. The proposal has been made again repeatedly in the years since, with some states simultaneously undertaking their own efforts to lock the clock.
While the U.S. Senate unanimously
passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, which would make DST the permanent standard time, it died in the House, meaning the survival of the practice humored by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and adopted throughout the West during World War I to conserve fuel by diminishing the need for artificial light.
DST — which starts on the second Sunday in March at 2:00 a.m. and ends on the first Sunday in November at 2:00 a.m. — was foisted upon the nation at large as a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics
noted that while state governments cannot independently change time zones or the duration of DST, they can exempt themselves from the practice. The only places where DST is not uniformly observed are American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and most of Arizona. There have, however, been various attempts by state lawmakers to expand that list. As of October, at least 30 states had reportedly considered or were considering DST-related legislation or resolutions.
‘The Republican will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time.’
Advocates of permanent DST have
suggested that it will mean brighter evenings and fewer car accidents, reduced crime, and possibly less energy consumption.
“I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year,” Scott said in a statement. “It’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than benefit to them.”
“I’m excited to have President Trump back in the White House and fully on board to LOCK THE CLOCK so we can get this good bill passed and make this commonsense change that will simplify and benefit the lives of American families,” added Scott.
While Trump is keen on eliminating time changes, he appeared to advocate for sticking with standard time when
stating in a Dec. 13 post on Truth Social, “The Republican will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
However, he previously stated in March 2019 that “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is OK with me!”
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is among the groups advocating for locking the clock in standard time,
convinced that “DST can cause misalignment between the biological clock and environmental clock, resulting in significant health and public safety-related consequences.”
According to a 2020 AASM position statement, “A change to permanent standard time is best aligned with human circadian biology and has the potential to produce beneficial effects for public health and safety.”
The bill that would lock the clock in DST has significant bipartisan support and counts among its cosponsors Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) stated, “Changing the clocks twice a year creates unnecessary difficulties for many people in Mississippi, especially farmers who rely on daylight to manage their crops, livestock, and daily tasks, and permanent daylight saving time would give them more consistency throughout the year. It would also help boost the economy, improve public safety, and offer important mental health benefits.”
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