US time change 2024: When does daylight saving time start this year?
The start of daylight saving time for this year is approaching in the United States. Know when the clocks change for DST and when they change back.
Most people in the US must change the time of their clocks twice a year: on the second Sunday of March, when daylight saving time begins; and on the first Sunday of November, when it ends.
The schedule changed the last time on Nov. 5 of last year, when the clock was turned back one hour.
When does daylight saving time start and end this year?
The next time change will be on Sunday, March 10, when daylight saving time begins. This time, the clock must be advanced one hour.
The time will change again on Sunday, Nov. 3, the date on which daylight saving time ends and clocks must be turned back one hour.
In most cases, Americans don’t have to worry about making the switch manually, since electronic devices, such as smartphones, make the change automatically at 2 a.m., either for the start or end of daylight saving time.
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Places in the US where there is no time change
Daylight saving time was enacted as a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
While state governments cannot independently change time zones or the length of daylight saving time, they can exempt themselves from observing it. Daylight saving time is observed uniformly throughout the country, except in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and most of Arizona.
In the case of Arizona, the state had followed daylight saving time since 1918, but decided not to use it in 1968. Although the state maintains standard time, the Navajo Nation, in the northeast of the state, does observe daylight saving time, so the time changes twice a year in the area.
Attempts to eliminate time changes in the US
In March 2022, the US Senate unanimously approved a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent across the country. The bipartisan bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act, sought to ensure that Americans would no longer change their clocks twice a year.
However, the proposal was not approved by the House of Representatives so it did not reach President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. In the Lower House, legislators argued that they were not sure which was the best time to make permanent, the standard or daylight saving schedule.