Will daylight savings time be permanent in 2023? Sunshine Protection Act
Majority of the United States switched the clock over the weekend to daylight savings time. The Sunshine Protection Act aims to make the change permanent.
Daylight savings time is back in most parts of the U.S. after clocks were moved an hour forward to take advantage of sunlight. There are efforts to make this switch permanent, but so far they have not been successful.
The Sunshine Protection Act is a bill introduced by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in 2018, aiming to make DST permanent in the country and do away with the time changes that take place twice a year. The act was modeled after a bill in Florida with the same name. However, the bill failed to advance.
It was reintroduced in 2019, again unsuccessfully; and then another attempt again ended in failure in 2021. It finally met with some success in March last year, when the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent. However, it stalled in the House of Representatives and did not receive approval before the 117th Congress ended.
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Sen. Rubio gives it another shot
Earlier this month, Senator Rubio reintroduced the bill, saying that he hopes it will finally be implemented soon.
“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid. Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done,” according to the senator.
If the House approves the bill this time around, it will be sent to the President to be signed.
The long road to permanent DST
Even if the Sunshine Protection Act becomes law, it may take some time for it to be put into practice. Around the country. Individual states would still need to pass their own legislation to adopt permanent daylight savings time. Some states have actually passed such laws, while many others have not.
Permanent daylight savings time could begin implementation as early as this year, but depending on how the legislators decide to act, it could still take a few years before the change is rolled out across the different states.