A group of American senators from both parties introduced a bill to make daylight saving time permanent in most of the United States.
Daylight saving time is currently observed from March to November in most of the United States, except in most of Arizona and Hawaii. Under the proposal, Arizona would be in the Pacific time zone all year and Hawaii six hours behind the east. The project would also eliminate the need to change the clock twice a year.
The legislation, if passed, would give most of America additional daylight at night in the winter months, but would reduce the amount of morning sunlight during standard daylight hours.
Five Republican senators and three Democrats are co-sponsors of the legislation.
Fifteen states passed bills to switch to daylight saving time throughout the year, but the federal government would have to agree to the changes.
“The call to end the antiquated practice of changing the clock is gaining momentum across the country,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida. “Studies have shown many benefits of daylight saving time throughout the year, which is why the Florida legislature voted to make it permanent in 2018. I am proud to reintroduce this bipartisan project to make daylight saving time permanent and give our nation’s families more stability throughout the year. “
“Americans’ lifestyles are very different than they were when daylight saving time began more than a century ago,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “Making daylight saving time permanent will end half-yearly breaks in daily life and give families more hours of daylight to enjoy after work and school.”
Governments have implemented daylight saving time as a measure to save energy. While Americans conserve some energy at night with more daylight, research has found that the benefit is offset by increased energy use in the morning.
President Richard Nixon implemented daylight saving time throughout the year in 1974, when the United States was hit by a power shortage. The law ended in 1975 when Congress established a standard practice for daylight saving time, allowing winter mornings to have more daylight, so that more people could go to work and school during the day.