The House passed legislation Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent, a measure that could end the yearly time change of “springing forward” and “falling back.”
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) has introduced the Sunshine Protection Act every Congress since 2018 before it passed the House by a margin of 308-117 on Tuesday, with 95 Democrats and 22 Republicans voting against the measure. The passage comes after 20 states have made moves to trigger permanent daylight saving time once it is signed into law by the president.
“Americans across the country are tired of the biannual clock change, and the evidence is clear that permanent daylight saving time can improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime and encourage more outdoor activity,” Buchanan wrote in a press release.
“I’ve advocated for this change for years because it’s clear that year-round daylight saving time is a popular, commonsense reform that will improve everyday life for millions of Americans,” he continued.
The bill was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent in 2022, but it stalled in the House.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) has introduced companion legislation that has 18 bipartisan co-sponsors. If the legislation passes the Senate, President Donald Trump has remained consistent in his support for the measure and is likely to sign it into law.
“This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks,” he wrote on social media in May when the bill advanced through committee.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” Trump also wrote in 2024. “Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
According to current law, states can choose to stay on permanent standard time, but cannot choose to be on permanent daylight saving time without congressional and presidential approval.
Florida was the first state to pass a permanent trigger law in 2018 that will go into effect if this bill becomes law. The federal bill also allows states to choose permanent standard time if state legislation to opt out of daylight saving time is passed before the bill’s enactment.
Those in favor of permanent daylight saving time have argued that it can “improve public health, reduce traffic accidents, lower crime, and encourage more outdoor activity,” according to Buchanan, while those who oppose have argued that permanent daylight saving time means dark mornings for early risers.
While the Sunshine Protection Act has passed the House, those who oppose the bill have offered counterlegislation.
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Reps. Pat Harrigan (R-NC) and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) introduced legislation last month to make standard time permanent, while allowing states to opt into daylight saving time.
“It’s hard to find anyone who enjoys changing the clocks twice a year, yet Americans have been stuck with the same outdated policy for decades,” Harrigan wrote in a press release. “The Sunshine for Our Kids Act replaces that one-size-fits-all mandate with a smarter approach by making standard time the default while allowing states to decide what works best for their own communities.”