Daylight Saving Time is a surprisingly controversial and complicated topic.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. The Sunshine Protection Act received 308 ayes, but it still needs support from lawmakers in the Senate to become law. Daylight saving is a contentious issue, and according to polls, a majority of Americans do not support the back-and-forth of the clocks. For decades, lawmakers have tried to end it. As annoying and expensive as changing the clocks is, permanent Daylight Saving Time will come with its own challenges.
In March each year, the U.S. and much of Europe set clocks forward by an hour to enjoy more sunshine in the evening. This is Daylight Saving Time (DST). In autumn, the clock is adjusted back an hour to return to Standard Time. In summer, this means getting more sunshine in the evening and delaying sunsets.
Currently, the U.S. allows states to opt out of daylight saving; however, it does not allow them to be on Daylight Saving Time permanently. In 2018, California voters supported an initiative to be permanently on Daylight Saving Time if the federal government allowed it. It was a proposition to give the California State Legislature the ability to change to DST, but the legislation would need approval from both the Assembly and Senate, along with federal approval, before it could become law.
Within the U.S., Arizona and Hawaii don’t observe DST, along with Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Hawaii, which is near the equator, gets enough sunlight and has no reason to change the clock, while Arizona is a desert and having more sunlight would mean being outside in warmer weather for longer.
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The U.S. used daylight saving as a measure to conserve fuel and provide additional daylight hours during World War I and World War II. The current start and end dates for DST were established in 2005, and the system has been in place since 2007. But President Donald Trump, as well as other lawmakers, have called for this practice to end for years. Now with this bill passing in the House, it is one step closer to becoming reality.
Experts say that the spring clock change is associated with an increase in car accidents and cardiovascular incidents. Clock changes also have negative health impacts.
What This Means for Travelers
If this does become law, most Americans won’t notice much difference during the summer months. However, in the winter, the sun will rise an hour later than under Standard Time. To gain an extra hour of sunshine in the evenings, Americans will give up morning sunlight. Northern states and those in western time zones will feel this shift most acutely.
In New York, sunrise would move from 7:20 a.m. to 8:20 a.m., while Dallas wouldn’t see the sun until 8:30 a.m. Indianapolis and Seattle wouldn’t experience sunrise until 9 a.m., and some parts of Michigan and Montana would see the sun come up after 9:30 a.m.
The Sunshine Protection Act also allows states to opt out of Daylight Saving Time, meaning you may have to keep track of which states are following it and which are not when you travel. The lack of Standard Time will also put Americans out of sync with Europe, making time zone calculations more complicated.
India, for example, does not observe Daylight Saving Time and has only one time zone. New York and India have a time difference of 10 hours and 30 minutes during Standard Time (in the winter), with India ahead of New York. During DST, this reduces to 9 hours and 30 minutes. Now imagine doing this calculation for all countries, different U.S. time zones, and Daylight Saving versus Standard Time.
This isn’t the first time the U.S. has tried to eliminate the clock change. In 1974, President Richard Nixon signed a law to make DST permanent after the energy crisis of 1973. However, it raised safety concerns after eight schoolchildren were hit by cars in Florida; permanent Daylight Saving Time meant that kids had to walk to school or wait for buses in the dark. The law was later repealed, and the U.S. returned to Standard Time in the winter. Those concerns will also be valid in 2026.
On the other hand, sleep experts believe that Standard Time is better for overall health because it aligns with the body’s circadian rhythm. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is supporting the Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would make Standard Time permanent across the U.S. This competing bill was introduced on July 9 and still has a long way to go in the legislative process.
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