TOPEKA (KSNT) - A Kansas Republican believes the time is right to dump daylight saving time in the Sunflower State. But will his legislation find success in 2025?
27 News spoke with Republican District 18 Senator Kenny Titus about a bill he pre-filed ahead of the 2025 session of the Kansas Legislature. Senate Bill 1, if passed successfully, would end daylight saving time in Kansas, lead to the adoption of standard time and exempt the Sunflower State from a federal law on daylight saving time. The bill also has a section that would lead the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if it is approved in Congress.
Titus pointed to a few major reasons why he thinks his bill will succeed in 2025 where previous efforts have failed. Residents in his district in northeast Kansas have brought the issue to his attention on multiple occasions, saying they'd like to have daylight saving time dropped to ease the burden on their schedules.
"This is something I hear about from constituents a lot," Titus said. "People don't like switching clocks back and forth."
Titus also cited a social media post made by President-elect Donald Trump on X in December 2024 where the former and future president vocalized support for ending the practice of daylight saving time. Trump has yet to make it clear whether he prefers adopting permanent daylight saving time or standard time.
"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation."
Donald Trump X post on Dec. 13
Titus also pointed to the U.S. Senate which approved a measure for the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 which would have halted the practice of changing clocks twice a year. Congressional senators recently reintroduced this legislation to make daylight saving time year-round on Jan. 7.
"In the past two years there's been a lot of conversation about this," Titus said. "It seems like a good time to put a bill out there and have a discussion."
Kansas has seen its fair share of attempts to do away with daylight saving time over recent years, none of which have found success. Legislators pushed to do away with daylight saving time in 2016 and again in 2019. Another measure to make central daylight saving time permanent in Kansas failed in 2022.
Titus said he feels the national conversation on daylight saving time has shifted in recent years, with more people getting on board with the idea of getting rid of the current system. He said the idea of changing how Kansans keep time has gained in popularity, but the question now lies with adopting either permanent daylight saving time or standard time.
"I did some research and compared the two," Titus said. "But when I looked at it, medical experts across the board identified standard time as better."
Permanent daylight saving time would mean clocks would not be set back at the end of fall each year, making sunrise and sunset occur later in the day during winter. Titus' bill calls for the adoption of central daylight saving time or the standard time kept in the third time zone established by federal law advanced by one hour. The change is expected to give Kansans more time to rest and prevent the switching of clocks twice a year.
"My bill is really if we want to change things now," Titus said. "Central standard time is our only option."
Titus said he researched how a switch over to standard time would impact the health of Kansans and found evidence that it would lead to fewer road fatalities, increased mental health and better rest. People have had to cope with a lost hour of sleep each year under daylight saving time in the spring as clocks move forward, making it difficult for some to adjust to losing time for rest.
"I would like to stop switching clocks all the time," Titus said. "The people who feel it the most are young children and families."
If Congress does make a decision eventually to approve of permanent daylight saving time, as evidenced in the Sunshine Protection Act, Titus' bill would lead Kansas to fall in line with the federal law. He explained that he included this section in his bill to lead to less confusion down the road if Congress does successfully pass the Sunshine Protection Act.
"The presumption would be if Congress ever wanted to make daylight saving time permanent, they would make it mandatory," Titus said. "I don't like having laws that conflict each other in the books. I just wanted us to have a clear procedure to whatever standard Congress adopts."
The Kansas Legislature is set to convene on Jan. 13 for the 2025 session. A hearing has yet to be scheduled for Senate Bill 1 but Titus is optimistic about bringing it before his fellow legislators to have renewed conversation on the issue.
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