Tired of changing the clocks twice a year? Many lawmakers are, too.
(NEXSTAR) — The clocks on our phones and other pieces of tech jumped forward an hour overnight between Saturday and Sunday, which means daylight saving time has officially begun.
If some states could have their way, this would be the last time we change our clocks.
While the U.S. has had a back-and-forth relationship with daylight saving time over the last 100 years, most of us have only ever observed the twice-annual practice. As its name implies, daylight saving time (not savings) is meant to give us more time in the sun when we’d prefer it: summer.
However, lawmakers in a large swath of the country — as well as in Congress — would like to make daylight saving time our all-of-the-time time.
According to a report released by the National Conference of State Legislatures in September 2023, lawmakers in nearly every state have considered more than 450 bills and resolutions regarding daylight saving time since 2015.
The problem that many have encountered is which side of the clock to stand on: permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time.
Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states can exempt themselves from daylight saving time by observing permanent standard time year-round, but they cannot observe permanent daylight saving time all year. Hawaii and most of Arizona, as well as all U.S. territories, have made that change, while lawmakers in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia have recently introduced bills to do the same.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Virginia, have introduced bills in recent months to observe daylight saving time permanently, which would require action by Congress. A similar bill in Nebraska already failed to pass.
Many states have tried to pass bills to make permanent daylight saving time the norm or enacted resolutions that would allow the state to do so should Congress give them permission. At least 19 states have already enacted such legislation or resolutions, according to the NCSL. That includes Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Some of that legislation would also require one or more neighboring states to jump into permanent daylight saving time before the original state would. The bill introduced in Illinois earlier this year, for example, would put the state on permanent standard time only if Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin would do the same.
Last year, nearly 30 states considered legislation regarding daylight saving time, data from the NCSL shows. In most cases, those efforts were stalled or failed.
Bills introduced on the federal level have faced the same fate. That includes the 2023 version of Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) Sunshine Protection Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) to give states the power to stay on daylight saving time year-round, and a similar bill brought forth by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). All three were referred to committees, where they have remained since March 2023.
So as you grumble while you reset your manual clocks, just know you will — most likely — have to do it all again in early November when daylight saving time ends. At least then, you’ll gain that hour of sleep that you lost this weekend.
