With the official arrival of fall across the nation, people are circling Nov. 2 on their calendars, which marks the end of daylight saving time. Despite growing resistance to the tradition, the practice of “falling back” — a term coined to describe the act of setting clocks back one hour in the fall — remains a nationwide phenomenon.
Efforts to change the system began in 2018 with the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill first introduced by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. The bill proposed extending daylight saving time and making it permanent year-round nationwide.
While states can be exempt from observing daylight saving time under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which established the system of daylight saving time for the U.S., states are currently unable to observe daylight saving time permanently. Since its introduction in 2018, the Sunshine Protection Act has been reintroduced multiple times.
The Sunshine Protection Act was passed by the Senate in 2022. However, it did not pass the House of Representatives. More recently, the legislation was reintroduced in January by Florida Sen. Rick Scott. This push has yet to implement the change through federal law successfully. However, it has received support from many, with over 750 bills and resolutions similar to the Sunshine Protection Act.
Examining efforts outside of Florida, legislation to make daylight saving time permanent throughout the year has been enacted in many other states. This includes states such as Oklahoma, Colorado, Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Idaho, Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.
President Donald Trump has been a supporter of the change. He has urged Congress to take action to push for permanent daylight savings.
A poll conducted by Gallup earlier this year found that 40% of Americans favor daylight saving time, with 54% opposing it. When asked whether they preferred to stick with the current system, have daylight saving time year-round, or standard time year-round, 48% opted for standard time. Only 24% preferred daylight saving time year-round, which the Sunshine Protection Act would do if put into law.
Regardless of whether standard time or daylight saving time is made permanent, research shows that either would be better from a health perspective. The current system used that switches between standard and daylight saving time affects people’s circadian rhythms with the time changes, which can be detrimental to human health.
A September study by Stanford Medicine scientists found that permanently changing to either standard or daylight saving time could lead to a decrease in cases of strokes and obesity. Yet the decline in health issues would be even greater with standard time.
Daylight saving time was made permanent before, but the change did not last. The Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973 attempted to make daylight saving time permanent year-round for two years, during a period when the country was facing an energy crisis following the 1973 oil embargo. The change was met with backlash, and before the two years ended, it was amended to add four months of standard time.
With the debate still ongoing, the biannual clock change is here to stay for now, so be sure to mark your calendar and prepare to “fall back” to standard time.