Making daylight saving time permanent and year-round is on the table
A proposal to make daylight saving time the year-round default nationwide is once again before Congress.
And as has happened in the past, both in California and nationally, advocates and opponents of the transition cite potential impacts (good or bad) on health, business and agriculture as reasons to support or oppose the plan.
A vote is expected in the Parliament Sunlight Protection Act this week, according to the office of the bill’s author, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.).
SB 29, the Senate version of the bill, is sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). One expression “More daylight after work means more jobs and more active, safer California communities,” he said last year.
Most of the United States switched to daylight saving time in the spring, moving the clocks one hour ahead of standard time. The bill would end the “drop” to standard time that usually occurs in November. The change will mean darker mornings and later sunsets. President Trump stated: supports plan.
It wouldn’t be the first time a debate over timekeeping has reached Capitol Hill. A bill has been introduced that would make daylight saving time permanent in 2022. approved It was approved by the Senate, but efforts in the House stalled.
“It is clear that year-round daylight saving time is a popular, common-sense reform that will improve the daily lives of millions of Americans,” Buchanan told The Times. “Passing my bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act will move us one step closer to ending the outdated and unpopular practice of changing our clocks twice a year.”
Areas that do not currently observe daylight saving time will be able to remain on permanent standard time, according to the law. invoice text. For example, in Arizona and Hawaii, the clocks are not set forward or backward.
Lawmakers in California and other states may choose to make daylight saving time permanent, but they must decide before the law takes effect, Buchanan senior adviser Josh Gregory said in an email.
This effort has received support from both sides of the aisle. In California, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear Lake), Ken Calvert (R-Corona), and Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) are co-sponsors of H.R. 139.
There is bipartisan opposition to the proposal.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also opposes permanent daylight saving time. One speech Last year, Cotton argued that year-round daylight saving time could benefit some activities and areas, such as golfing in Florida and Alabama, but that those living in northern states and on the west side of time zones might not see the sunrise until 9 a.m. in the winter.
Cotton expressed concern that, as in 1974, students would have to walk to school in the dark and risk being hit by drivers. US briefly adopted year-round daylight saving time To combat the energy crisis.
“The darkness of permanent daylight saving time would be especially harmful to schoolchildren and working Americans,” Cotton said.
Representative Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-San Pedro) told The Times he plans to vote against the bill because “medical experts warn that permanent daylight saving time is bad for our health.”
He supports a different proposal: the Sunshine for Our Children Act; This law aims to make permanent standard time the default nationwide, but gives states the option to opt out. invoiceH.R. 9638, approved By the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Stanford professor Jamie Zeitzer, a physiologist who studies circadian cycles and how people respond to light, supports ending the twice-yearly time changes.
He said the “forward arching” change leads to sleep loss and has been associated with a number of negative effects on health. The change in spring time is also linked to more car crashes and cardiovascular events, he added.
Zeitzer’s research found that the darker mornings and brighter evenings of permanent daylight saving time weakened the circadian clock for many people.
“The abundance of biological evidence clearly shows that permanent standard time is a better solution,” Zeitzer said. “When you have a stronger light signal in the early morning hours, this will help your internal circadian system stay in sync with the day.”
2025 AP-NORC questionnaire He found that the current system of changing clocks twice a year was unpopular. According to the survey of nearly 1,300 U.S. adults, only 12% of respondents supported the current system, while 47% were opposed and 40% were neutral.
There is no consensus in the business world on making daylight saving time permanent. While many chambers of commerce and businesses looking to attract customers later in the day generally support it, agricultural interests and some industries oppose it.
As for making standard time permanent, this also faces objections. Among the competitors: golf course owners.
Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association, testified at a congressional hearing in November that missing extra daylight in the evenings could hurt the industry. $1.6 billion in green fees alone because many Americans tend to play golf in the afternoon or evening.
Buchanan’s office said in a statement that “the well-documented benefits of having more sunlight later in the day after school and after work will benefit the health and well-being of millions of Americans.”
There have been previous attempts to end biannual clock adjustments in California.
In 2018, California voters approved Proposition 7, which was expected to give the Legislature the authority to enforce daylight saving time year-round, but only if the federal government allows states to do so. It has not yet resulted in any meaningful change.
Earlier this year, State Senator Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) introduced SB 1197, which aims to “eliminate the switch” by switching the state to permanent standard time.
A spokesperson from Niello’s office said that because his previous efforts had failed to gain traction, current offer It includes a provision requiring California to comply if the federal government adopts permanent daylight saving time.
