The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent across America.
The measure, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, still needs to be approved by the House and signed off by President Joe Biden in order to become a law. If the measure gets through Congress and is signed off by Biden, the US would no longer turn back its clocks come the fall.
The legislation, backed by both Republicans and Democrats, would make daylight saving time permanent beginning in 2023. The move would end changing the clocks twice annually, and create brighter afternoons.
On Sunday, most of the US resumed daylight saving time, shifting ahead an entire hour. The country resumes standard time, falling an hour back, in November.
Whether Biden supports the measure has not yet been disclosed. A spokesperson for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to share if she supports it, but said she was closely reviewing the bill.
Supporters of the bill say the change would allow for children to play outdoors later and reduce seasonal depression among adults.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a sponsor of the bill, said supporters agreed the change would not take place until November 2023 after receiving input from airlines and broadcasters.
‘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,’ Rubio said. ‘If we can get this passed, we don’t have to do this stupidity anymore.’
Since 2015, about 30 states have introduced legislation to end the twice annually changing of the clocks.
Supporters of the legislation also say it may be able to prevent the slight uptick in car crashes that generally occurs around when the clocks change. Studies show that around this time of year the number of heart attacks and strokes also increase.
Many of the bill’s supporters also argue that the measure could help businesses, such as golf courses, be able to draw in more customers if there is more daylight into the evening.
The US has implemented daylight saving time since the 1960s, though it was first tried in 1918.
The bill would allow Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe daylight saving time, to remain on standard time as well as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
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