Senate unanimously passes bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

 

Could changing the clocks twice a year become a thing of the past?

The Senate unanimously approved a bill on Tuesday that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, making the House all that stands between longer winter days and later sunrises in summer.

The bipartisan legislation – known as the Sunshine Protection Act – was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in March 2019. It was quickly backed by two of his Democratic colleagues, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

As the measure passed, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) let out an audible “Yes!” on the Senate floor. 

If the House approves the measure and President Biden signs it, the legislation would not take effect until the fall of 2023 since airlines, railroads and other mass transit operators have built out schedules based on the current timekeeping system.

The US will enter Standard Time in November of this year, when Americans in every state except Hawaii and non-Navajo areas of Arizona turn their clocks back one hour. This past Sunday marked the start of Daylight Saving Time.

In an op-ed published last week, Rubio and Markey advocated for the time change, calling it “an inconvenience to people everywhere.”

“We can’t always get bipartisan agreement in Congress these days, but here’s one thing we can agree on: we could all use a bit more sunshine,” they wrote. “That’s why we’re working together in the US Senate to make sure we end the practice of ‘spring forward’ and ‘fall back’ by making daylight saving time permanent.”

The two senators argued that darker afternoons in winter can affect mental and physical health and that biannual transitions of “spring forward” and “fall back” disrupt sleeping patterns.

“The rate of heart attacks spikes by 24 [percent] in the days following ‘spring forward’ in March, according to a 2014 study from the University of Michigan. Another study, published in 2016, found stroke rates may also increase by eight percent,” the two wrote. “Year-round daylight saving time could also decrease the likelihood of fatal car accidents, which jump six percent in the days following the time change, according to a 2020 study from the University of Colorado.”

“It’s really straightforward: Cutting back on the sun during the fall and winter is a drain on the American people and does little to nothing to help them,” they added. “It’s time we retire this tired tradition. Tell your senators to lighten up and back our Sunshine Protection Act.”

The US first enacted a law adopting Daylight Saving Time in 1918, at the height of America’s involvement in World War I. The measure was repealed the following year due to its widespread unpopularity, though a few states and cities — including New York — continued the practice.

Daylight Saving Time returned during World War II and remained in effect continuously between February 1942 and September 1945. After the war, states and cities again were allowed to choose whether to adopt the practice — and set their own dates for its beginning and ending.

In 1966, the federal Uniform Time Act standardized Daylight Saving Time to begin on the last Sunday in April and begin on the last Sunday of October. The time frame has since been extended twice by law changes. Currently, Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November.

In January 1974, President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, setting Standard Time forward by one hour in an effort save fuel during the ongoing gas crisis. The change again proved widely unpopular, especially with parents who feared sending their children off to school in the dark. That October, President Gerald Ford signed an amendment restoring the traditional clock changes.