So for now, all these states will be changing their clocks on Sunday along with the rest of us. But none of the changes can go into effect without approval from the federal government. Other states that have approved legislation to enact year-long daylight saving time include Washington, Tennessee, Oregon, Nevada, and Alabama. Marco Rubio has put forth a few bills to push the approval forward, but they haven’t moved at all.Īrkansas, too, passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent, but it included the condition that the changes wouldn’t go into effect until its bordering states changed their clocks permanently too. The bill is still waiting on approval from Congress before it can go into effect. (Essentially, it would mean that Florida will be one hour ahead of the rest of the East Coast during the winter months.) Massachusetts has looked into a similar measure, too. In 2018, the Florida government approved the delightfully named Sunshine Protection Act, which seeks to permanently leave Florida in daylight saving time. The federal government would have to approve it that has uncertain prospects too. Any changes would need to start with a two-thirds majority vote in the state legislature - which hasn’t happened yet.Īnd even then, the time change wouldn’t be a given. The measure, which passed with 60 percent of the vote, simply grants the California Legislature the power to vote to change the clocks permanently. In the November 2018 election, Californians voted in favor of a ballot measure that paves the way for this.
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That’s because lately, a few states have looked into joining Arizona and Hawaii, but with a twist: They want daylight saving time to be in place all year long.
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If you’re a bit confused about which states follow daylight saving time and which do not, I don’t blame you. 5) Didn’t a bunch of states pass laws making daylight saving time permanent? What happened with those? The island state is the farthest south of all states and rejected it because it doesn’t see a hugely noticeable daylight hour difference between winter and summer months. (What’s confusing: The Navajo Nation in Arizona does use DST.)
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One reason: Arizona summers are very hot, and an earlier sunset gives residents more time to enjoy tolerable temperatures before bed, as AZcentral explains. 4) Why doesn’t Arizona or Hawaii change its clocks?Īrizona has a simple way to deal with daylight saving time: Most of the state ignores it.įifty years ago, the state legislature opted to keep the clocks in most of the state in standard time all year. It’s probably fair to say that energy-wise, it’s a wash. It seems to reduce lighting use (and thus electricity consumption) slightly but may increase heating and AC use, as well as gas consumption. Studies that evaluate the energy impact of DST are mixed. 3) Does it actually lead to energy savings?Īs Joseph Stromberg outlined in an excellent 2015 Vox article, the actual electricity conservation from the time change is unclear or nonexistent:ĭespite the fact that daylight saving time was introduced to save fuel, there isn’t strong evidence that the current system actually reduces energy use - or that making it year-round would do so, either. Be sure to point out this common mistake to friends and acquaintances. No, it’s definitely called “daylight saving time.” Not plural. 2) Isn’t it “daylight savings time” not “daylight saving time”? Overall: We agree, the name is kind of confusing. Hence “saving” daylight hours for the most productive time of the day. It also means that you’re less likely to sleep through daylight hours in the morning (since those are shifted an hour later too). So if the sun sets at 8 pm instead of 7 pm, we’d presumably spend less time with the lights on in our homes at night, saving electricity. The idea is that in the summer months, we shift the number of daylight hours we get into the evening. 1) Why do we need to “save” daylight hours in the summer?ĭaylight saving time in the US started as an energy conservation trick during World War I and became a national standard in the 1960s. The first thing to know: Yes, it ends in the fall, just as the decrease in daylight hours is becoming noticeable.
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Yet there’s still a lot of confusion about daylight saving time. And for weekend workers, it means an additional glorious hour of sleep on Sunday. For 9-to-5 office workers, it means saying goodbye to leaving work while it’s still light out. The biggest consequence: The change shifts daylight back into the morning hours. On Sunday, November 3, at 2 am, we’ll turn our clocks back one hour, heralding the end of daylight saving time for much of the country.