Daylight Saving Time: Is This the Final Farewell?

Whether you are looking forward to an extra hour of sleep in the morning or an early sunset, Daylight Saving Time is on the horizon, and we are soaking it in possibly, for the very last time. In March, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would permanently make DST the standard time across the United States in November 2023. This bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would dissolve Americans of having to change their clocks twice a year.

Although the Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act, it still has to pass through the House. If it is approved, the bill would move the clocks forward by one hour beginning in November 2023.

Florida is not the only state seeking year around consistency. In the last five years, 18 other states have enacted legislation to provide for year-round DST. There are only two states, currently that observe permanent standard time- Arizona and Hawaii.

DST History

Daylight Saving Time was a practice first proposed in an essay by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. In 1907 an Englishman, William Willett, pushed for setting the clock ahead by 80 minutes during April and then reverse the clock in September. In 1909 the British House of Commons rejected the bill to advance the clock by one hour in the spring and return in the autumn.

Durning WW2, several countries, including Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and the United States, adopted summer Daylight Saving Time to conserve fuel by decreasing the need for artificial light. Clocks were kept continuously advanced by an hour in the United States from February 9, 1942, to September 30, 1945; and England used “double summertime” during part of the year, advancing the clock by two hours from Standard Time during the summer and one hour during the winter.

Daylight Saving Time in the US previously began on the last Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October. In 1986 the U.S. Congress passed a law that moved the start of DST to the first Sunday in April but kept its end date in October. In 2007, Daylight Saving Time was once again altered as the start date was moved to the second Sunday in March and the end date to the first Sunday in November. However, in most of the countries, DST starts on the last Sunday in March and ends on the last Sunday in October.