Civic Register
| 3.15.22
Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Adopt Permanent Daylight Savings Time, Ditch Clock Changes
Do you support or oppose ending the twice-a-year clock changes by adopting permanent DST?
What’s the story?
- The Senate cast a unanimous vote Tuesday to pass a bill that would end the practice of changing clocks twice per year to “spring forward” and “fall back” due to Daylight Saving Time (DST).
- If the bill clears the House and is signed into law by the president, there will be light at the end of the tunnel for Americans who are tired of changing their clocks twice a year.
What does the bill do?
- Introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 would make DST permanent across the U.S. Currently, most of the U.S. operates under eight months of DST from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, with the remaining four months of the year on standard time.
- If the bill becomes law, the U.S. would transition to year-round DST by not “falling back” in November during the year in which the change takes effect, and thereafter no more clock changes would be needed.
- An amendment introduced by Rubio and original cosponsor Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) would delay the implementation of this bill if it becomes law until November 2023 because airlines, railroads, and broadcasters have already built out schedules one year in advance based on the current practice remaining in effect.
- This means that if the bill is enacted in its current form, Americans would "fall back" for the last time this November, "spring forward" for the last time next March, then never deal with another time change so long as the law remains unchanged.
- Rubio’s bill has the support of 17 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate, including nine Republicans and eight Democrats. It’s unclear when or whether the House will act on the Senate-passed bill, but legislation will have to clear both chambers to reach the president’s desk. A companion bill in the House sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) has the support of 33 bipartisan cosponsors, including 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
What they’re saying
- Rubio discussed the history of DST and the twice-a-year clock changes on the floor and said, “I know this is not the most important issue confronting America, but it’s one of those issues where there’s a lot of agreement and I think a lot of people wonder why it took us so long to get here.”
- Rubio also cited data indicating an increase in heart attacks and traffic accidents during the weeks following the semi-annual clock changes, in addition to the difficulty in going about outdoor activities in the evening in northern parts of the country because the sun goes down around 5pm or earlier. He concluded:
“The good news is that if we can get this passed, we won’t have to keep doing this stupidity anymore. And why we would enshrine this in our laws and keep it for so long is beyond me, but hopefully, this is the year that this gets done. And pardon the pun, but this is an idea whose time has come.”
- Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) was the senator presiding over floor proceedings when the bill came up and quietly exclaimed, “Yes!” following its passage without objection.
RELATED READING
- S. 623: Sunshine Protection Act of 2021
- LBJ Standardized Daylight Saving Time With the Uniform Time Act
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / BrianAJackson)
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I do support getting rid of the time change. But if anyone believes this is going to bring us all together, I wouldn’t bet even NFTs on it much less cash. Rural and farmers will want sun in the morning, and urban city dwellers probably want more light in the evening Hope I’m wrong🤞🤞.
There is no real need to change the clocks. I never really understood why it was done in the first place. It just confuses everyone.
100% yes.
END THIS CHAOS. END DAYLIGHT SAVINGS
This is the kind of thing Congress is focused on now??!?? 🤦🏻♂️. There is no better example of the need for term limits.
I cannot believe this is STILL a thing. It was ludicrous to begin with and throws the whole country into a "jet lag like" state twice a year. DUMB idea. Should NEVER have happened and we have all argued about it for decades!
An excellent essay on the time change. Changing Clocks Is Annoying. The Alternatives Are Too. — The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/03/daylight-saving-time-compromise-bill/627589/
I'm choosing support because I want the clock changes to go away. But I would PREFER permanent STANDARD TIME, not permanent DST.
Why DST? Why not the same time as the rest of the world?
I 100% agree with doing away with the time changes HOWEVER if we do this we need to do this CORRECTLY!!!! I say this because we need to make sure that all areas in a time zone ARE ON THE SAME TIME—for example, Arizona is one of the few states that does not change their clocks HOWEVER the Native American lands in the state DO CHANGE THEIR CLOCKS!!! So when we do away with this law we need to make sure the ENTIRE STATE OF ARIZONA IS ON THE SAME TIME!!!! We need to make sure we do this right.
Many people were duped by this stupid bill because they want to end the spring forward and fall back clock attack. The problem is that permanent daylight savings time interferes with our health. Permanent standard time interferes with our economy. Which is more important human health or the economy. We don’t have an economy without human health so why don’t we fix the health issue first. Permanent standard time is the only option here. Please house don’t pass the bill
Maintaining DST is a bad idea for at least half the country and further bad for the Winter Sports industry. The support for this is based on misunderstandings and a failure to think this issue through. What needs to be understood is that ST/DST has different effects in the north and south - and the switch is helpful is incredibly helpful in the northern half of the country. My guess is that support for the bill is coming from a misconception that DAT makes days longer - of course not, it’s just that DST corresponds the longer days of summer and serves to shift sunlight from the early morning (not needed in the summer) to later in the day. Without seeing stats, my guess is also that support for the idea of maintaining DST is not coming from the north, where that would create an awful winter. Regardless of the ST/DST, daytime in the winter is shorter, and the shortening depends on where you are in the country. In the north of the country (e.g,, Seattle, Minneapolis), the sun is in the sky for almost 7 fewer hours in the winter and sunrise in the winter is more than three hours later than in the summer. In the south (e.g., Miami, Los Angeles) the difference is less just over three hours more sunlight in the summer and and a sunrise that is only 1-1/2 hours later in the summer. Switching from ST to DST is done to keep sunrise closer to the same time throughout the year and lets us more efficiently use the daylight hours, especially the morning hours. What will happen if DST is kept through the winter? In the south, not so much - sunrise is only a bit different throughout the year. In the north, keeping DST would mean the sun would not rise in the winter until nearly 9AM (or even later for some). Everyone in the north would be waking up in the dark, traveling to school or work in the dark - yuk. And winter sports? Where ski areas open at 9AM, that would then be 10AM. The schedule and flow of that industry would be out of synch. The point of what I’m writing is to say if you’re in the south, sure… switching from ST to DST may seem silly. But if you’re in the northern half of the country, it lets us get up in the morning in the winter and it’s needed. This should not be a national issue - it’s north/south and affects areas differently. Fine for some southern states and territories to not change their clocks - Arizona does not, Hawaii does not, Puerto Rico does not - but they’re south and the daylight hours don’t change as much from winter to summer… Keep the status quo. The dates of when the time changes was adjusted a few years ago - that was okay. Getting rid of it is not.
I do support the idea of not changing clocks twice a year. However, I’ve read from health experts that the Standard Time would be better for our health than Daylight Savings time due to the fact that it supports our circadian rhythms better. This helps with heart health, sleep, obesity…etc..
Time change should go along our circadian cycle. Having multiple time zones across the country also gets a bit convoluted
What is the biggest threat to America? Not WW III Not Russia Not China Not the Pandemic Its Proliferation of guns Dumbkopf, his followers including the gop, white supremacists, jan 6 goons, broken institutions
Puzzled Most people think the problem is just the switching back and forth that is the problem but that's really not what the scientists seem to be saying. They seem to be saying the problems are due to waking up to darkness and messing with natural circadian rhythms. I am not clear it its really the same thing. See, for example, Why daylight saving time may be bad for your brain and health | Brain | Discovery | UT Southwestern Medical Center https://utswmed.org/medblog/daylight-saving-time-sleep-health/
Get rid of daylight savings time. The use of daylight savings time is archaic and technology has made possible in saving energy making daylight savings time useless.
This change will be better for health. Physically and mentally. 20% increase in heart attacks after a time change. Longer daylight time is better for businesses too. Farmers included!
We have already tried this in 1973. It did not work. In some places the sun wouldn’t rise until 8:30. More accidents
Applying some old fashioned geography to the problem of what time should we standardize on? Sunrise 3/20/22 (Times in EDT) Caribou, Maine (Northern most East Coast City) 46°51′49″N 67°59′53″W Surise: 6:35 AM Quoddy Head State Park (Eastern most East Coast Location) 44.8160° N, 66.9528° W Sunrise: 6:31 AM Portland ME 43.6591° N, 70.2568° W Sunrise: 6:44 AM Washington DC 38.9072° N, 77.0369° W Sunrise: 7:12 AM Miami FL 25.7617° N, 80.1918° W Sunrise: 7:25 AM Florida City, FL 25°26′54″N 80°28′57″W (Southernmost municipality in the contiguous U.S.) Sunrise: 7:26 AM I actually did this for many more cities last night. The results confirmed my basic hypothesis–one Must apply basic geography and simple astronomy plus psychology to this issue. I have even less respect for Senator Rubio who has been willingly tasked to push for Universal DST. If anything, Rubio's understanding is ass backwards! See my other posts and comments by @davidf & @Andy for a little history and sleep psychology of this horrible idea.
Representatives, DO NOT SUPPORT PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME! Please read and follow up on this article. My sleepy brain loves the sound of permanent daylight savings. But do scientists agree? | Sleep -The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/mar/19/daylight-savings-permanent Bottom Line: No to permanent Daylight Savings Time. Yes to permanent Standard Time.