What Time Is It? Time to Stop Changing the Clocks?

 

The United States has just completed its first half of the twice a year time change headache as we sprang forward an hour into Daylight Savings Time, unless you live in Hawaii or Arizona, in which there is no DST. For many people, the twice a year ritual involves a lot of complaining, forgetting, and possibly getting to a Sunday morning destination at the wrong time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this could all just go away?

Well, in a rare show of bipartisanship, the Sunlight Protection Act has been reintroduced to the Senate as of last week. First proposed by Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the bill would eliminate the twice a year time change by making spring forward permanent, as in putting the entire country (with a caveat-more on that later) on DST, permanently.

See also: Europe Grapples With Time Change Gripes

In a statement, Rubio called the twice a year time change “antiquated” and observed that there is increasing support for ending the time change. Rubio also said that the benefits of extended evening daylight would include less car crashes, less winter depression, and more “stability” to families.

While he probably does not agree with Rubio on much, Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey also supports the bill, saying that year long DST could “improve public health, public safety, and mental health - especially important during this cold and dark COVID winter.”

Other signed-on sponsors of the bill are Senators James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, and Rick Scott, R-Florida.

Also speaking on the bill, Whitehouse noted that “Americans' lifestyles are very different than they were when Daylight Saving Time began more than a century ago,” before adding permanent DST will
“give families more daylight hours to enjoy after work and school.”

Both of those points are pretty hard to argue with.

On top of bipartisan support in the Senate, 15 states: Arkansas, Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, have passed their own laws/resolutions/voter initiatives calling for permanent DST. The problem: only federal law can change/end the time change, which means that the state statutes are void without a federal go-ahead.

As for the caveat mentioned earlier, the Sunlight Protection Act would not apply to places that currently don't observe DST (Arizona and Hawaii).

On the other hand, opponents of year-long DST voice concerns about delayed daylight during the winter having the potential to cause more car crashes on the front end of the day, which also coincides with the start of the school day. On the other hand, supporters of all-year DST will argue that most schools already start their classes before sunrise (at least during winter) and it’s rare for children to be hit by motorists on the way to school even now.

Should we go permanent DST? Well, in the effort of doing something that may actually bring the country together for a change, it may be worth a go.

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