Congress Still Stalled On Ending Daylight Saving Time

NBC News reports:

Since 2018, nearly all states have passed or entertained legislation that would drop the twice-a-year time shift. And 19 states have passed laws or resolutions in support of year-round daylight saving time, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. But there’s a caveat: Nothing can change until Congress addresses a 1960s-era law blocking such action.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., proposed a national Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving the permanent year-round time across the country, with exceptions for the regions that do not currently observe daylight saving time. The legislation passed the Senate unanimously in 2022, but stalled in the House last session. Rubio reintroduced the legislation in March.

Axios reports:

Doctors and health groups including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine say standard time is more aligned with our bodies’ clocks and that daylight saving time should be replaced by permanent standard time. “Essentially, standard time is what keeps us sane, despite the short days of winter,” Karin Johnson, a professor of neurology and sleep medicine specialist, told Axios’ Carly Mallenbaum.

Michael Breus, known as the “Sleep Doctor,” said lawmakers have the science completely wrong with the Sunshine Protection Act and their push for permanent daylight saving time. “The science would say we don’t want to be waking up in darkness,” Breus told Axios. The March “spring forward” is linked to an increase in car accidents, heart attacks and strokes.

Biannual time change began as a way to preserve electricity during World War I, but we still have it.

Here’s why sleep experts want to get rid of daylight saving time. https://t.co/X5DlpDIdRw

— Axios (@axios) November 4, 2023