TOPEKA (KSNT) - A Kansas Republican has introduced legislation ahead of the 2025 session to make changes to how the state recognizes daylight saving time.
27 News checked documents submitted for the 2025 session of the Kansas Legislature which show a pre-filed bill that, if accepted in its current form, would make it so the state no longer has to recognize daylight saving time. However, the bill also includes language that would require a move to permanent daylight saving time following an act of Congress.
Republican Senator Kenny Titus introduced this most recent push to change the controversial daylight saving time to the legislature ahead of the first day of session in 2025. It is recognized as Senate Bill 1 on the Legislature's website.
Senate Bill 1 would take effect after 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2 this year if passed successfully, according to the bill's language. Approval of the bill would exempt Kansas from observing daylight saving time under provisions set at the federal level.
However, if an act of Congress establishes permanent daylight saving time, the bill requires the Kansas secretary of state to adopt central daylight saving time. Notice of this action will be published in the Kansas Register after the law goes into effect.
Kansas is not alone with trying to make changes to daylight saving time. Multiple other states have introduced legislation recently to end the practice, with few finding success.
Kansans have witnessed many occasions over the past decade involving legislators attempting to make changes to daylight saving time in the state. Republicans such as Senator Ty Masterson pushed for an exemption in 2016 while a separate push for getting rid of daylight saving time in 2019. A bill in 2022, which later died in committee, would have made daylight saving time permanent in Kansas.
Arizona and Hawaii are the only states in the U.S. that do not currently recognize daylight saving time and instead keep standard time year-round. President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in doing away with daylight saving time when he returns to the White House in January 2025.
Kansans, like many other Americans, observe daylight saving time each year by losing an hour in the spring and gaining an hour in the fall. The practice was officially approved by Congress in 1918 with the Standard Time Act that was later signed by then-President Woodrow Wilson into law. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established a system of uniform daylight saving time throughout the nation, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT).
For more Capitol Bureau news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.
Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf
