The U.S. May Be Closer To Making Daylight Saving Time Permanent
Spring Forward or Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins in the U.S. on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at 2 am and ends on November 5 simultaneously. I, for one, instead this time of year, but I hate losing that hour of sleep to jumpstart the new time system. This whole time-changing thing is getting old.
For the past five years, nearly all the states have introduced legislation to make DST permanent, some dating back to 2015. The legislation was either enacted or passed in Colorado (2022), Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Montana (2021), Idaho, Louisiana, Ohio (resolution), South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming (2020).
Meanwhile, states like Arizona, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories, including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, already observe permanent standard time.
Regardless, Congress has to approve the year-round daylight legislation and make it federal law before any states could adopt the permanent time change. So, everyone is pretty much in limbo until that happens. The hesitation may lie in the fact that not all states agree on which time system to adopt, and that can cause a lot of issues for travel, education, etc.
For those of you who are pro-longer days, the good news is the U.S. is one step closer to making daylight savings permanent year-round. In March 2022, in a rare bipartisan moment, the Senate unanimously passed a bill, The Sunshine Protection Act. Below are more details.
Until a decision is made on a federal level, I guess it will be business as usual on the old-time-changing thing. For those who want longer days, Spring Forward is next Saturday, March 12!