Daylight Saving Time: These states no longer want to change their clocks twice a year

(NEXSTAR) – In just a few weeks, Daylight Saving Time will end and Americans in all but two states will turn back the clocks.

Not a fan of Daylight Saving Time even though we gain an hour of sleep? Nor are many lawmakers across the country.

Over the past seven years, hundreds of bills and resolutions have been introduced in the United States aimed at ending Daylight Saving Time. Many did not pass, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Two states – Hawaii and most of Arizona – already have permanent standard time (the time between November and March), which means they don’t change their clocks at all.

As the rest of the US transitions to Daylight Saving Time, Arizona and Hawaii are actually changing time zones. With clocks now converted to standard time, Arizona will move from the Pacific Time Zone to the Mountain Time Zone, while Hawaii will move from six hours to five hours behind Eastern Time.

Under current federal law, the United States as a whole can waive the twice-yearly clock change only if Congress passes a federal law or a state or local government provides detailed information to the U.S. Department of Transportation “to support its assertion that the proposed change would change the serve the convenience of trade.”

Which States Are Trying To End Daylight Saving Time?

Eighteen states have enacted laws or resolutions to make daylight saving time permanent, subject to approval by Congress or other neighboring states enacting similar legislation.

These states include Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. California voters approved an amendment, but legislative action is pending. Massachusetts has commissioned studies on the subject, according to the NCSL.

Kentucky and Mississippi have passed legislation both requiring Congress and the President to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

More than 20 states have daylight saving time laws pending this year, NCSL reports. While most of these states want to permanently observe daylight saving time, others like Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania want to keep standard time.

Laws in Iowa, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia did not pass this year. A breakdown of the proposed legislation by state can be found here.

Is Congress doing anything?

Congress passed the first daylight savings time law more than 100 years ago when then-President Woodrow Wilson signed the Calder Act into law. According to Smithsonian Magazine, Americans had to advance their clocks to standard time on March 19, 1918 and one hour on March 31.

Two years later, dozens of cities adopted their own Daylight Saving Time policies. In the mid-1960s, 18 states adhered to Daylight Saving Time, while 12 adhered to Standard Time. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which put into effect the current summer schedule followed by 48 states, the Smithsonian reports.

Earlier this year, the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The bill would make daylight saving time our normal time from early November 2023. It was submitted to the House of Representatives in March, but no action has been taken since then.

Two other bills, the DAYLIGHT Act and another that would allow states to observe year-round daylight saving time, were introduced in the House of Representatives in November 2021 but never left the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee.

The US has tried permanent daylight saving time before and it didn’t go well.

Then-President Richard Nixon signed an emergency Daylight Saving Time Act in late 1973 amid a national energy crisis to reduce demand while increasing daylight hours. Soon after, parents voiced their concerns about traffic accidents and the safety of their children, who were now forced to go to school in the winter darkness.

The vast majority of Americans approved of the bill’s passage, but two months later the approval rating dropped from 80% to 42%. Months later, in the fall of 1974, President Gerald Ford signed legislation to bring the United States back to the time change process we know today.

There are a few industries that appear to be benefiting from daylight saving time. Among these is the Chamber of Commerce, said Michael Downing, a professor at Tufts University, in 2015. He said the Chamber “understood something very early on: if you give workers daylight when they leave their jobs, they’re a lot more inclined.” stop and shop on the way home.”

The Ministry of Transport now writes summer time to save energy, avoid accidents and reduce crime.