The daylight saving time bill before Congress is the Sunshine Protection Act, which would end the twice-yearly clock change by locking the United States on daylight saving time year-round. The Senate passed a version by unanimous consent in March 2022, but the House never took it up. Representative Vern Buchanan reintroduced it on January 3, 2025 as H.R.139, where it now sits in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.1Congress.gov. H.R.139 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 Nothing changes for the roughly 300 million Americans who currently observe daylight saving time until both chambers pass identical text and the President signs it.
What the Bill Would Actually Change
The proposal is simple in mechanics. Instead of springing forward in March and falling back in November, clocks would stay in the “spring forward” position permanently. A December evening in New York would see sunset near 5:30 p.m. rather than 4:30 p.m., but sunrise wouldn’t arrive until roughly 8:15 a.m.2U.S. Senate (Cindy Hyde-Smith). S.582 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2023
One boundary matters up front. The bill only applies to states and territories that currently observe daylight saving time. Places already exempt, including Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, would stay on permanent standard time as they are now.3US Department of Transportation. Daylight Saving Time The sponsors have pitched the change as a way to increase retail spending, reduce seasonal depression, and give families more usable evening light. Opponents point to dark winter mornings, particularly the safety of children heading to school before dawn.
Where the Bill Stands in Congress
H.R.139 was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in January 2025 and has not received a hearing or vote as of early 2025.1Congress.gov. H.R.139 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 A separate proposal from Representative Celeste Maloy, the Daylight Act, would take a different route by letting individual states adopt permanent daylight saving time on their own, without a national mandate.
For either bill to become law, it has to clear committee, pass the House and Senate in identical form, and get the President’s signature. Until then, the federal requirement to change clocks twice a year stays in force.
How the Bill Got Here
The closest the Sunshine Protection Act has come to law was March 15, 2022, when the Senate passed it by unanimous consent.4Congress.gov. S.623 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 Several senators later said they hadn’t fully understood what was being agreed to during the fast-moving consent process. The bill went to the House, was held at the desk, and died there when the 117th Congress ended.
Senators Marco Rubio and Edward Markey reintroduced it in the 118th Congress as S.582, with a companion House version, H.R.1274, filed by Buchanan.5Congress.gov. S.582 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 The Senate version was referred to Commerce, Science, and Transportation; the House version went to Energy and Commerce. Neither advanced. The pattern has been strong poll numbers and bipartisan rhetorical support, paired with no scheduled votes in the House.
Why a Federal Bill Is Needed at All
States can’t simply pass permanent daylight saving time on their own. The Uniform Time Act of 1966, codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 260–264, created the national daylight saving time system and gave the Department of Transportation authority over time zones and clock-change dates.6US Department of Transportation. Uniform Time
Under the statute, a state may exempt itself entirely from daylight saving time and stay on standard time year-round. That door only swings one way. The law allows opting out of the spring-forward/fall-back cycle but does not allow a state to lock its clocks in the daylight saving position.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 260a – Advancement of Time or Changeover Dates Federal law also supersedes any state or local rule setting different changeover dates. This is the legal bottleneck: a state legislature can pass permanent daylight saving time tomorrow, but nothing takes effect until Congress amends the Uniform Time Act or passes a standalone authorization.
State Trigger Laws Waiting on Congress
Nineteen states have already passed legislation or resolutions declaring intent to adopt permanent daylight saving time as soon as federal law allows. Most are written as triggers: dormant until Congress acts, then activated automatically or by the governor. The list, by year:
- 2018: Florida
- 2019: Delaware, Maine, Oregon (Pacific time zone only), Tennessee, Washington
- 2020: Idaho (Pacific time zone only), Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, Wyoming
- 2021: Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana
- 2022: Colorado
- 2024: Oklahoma
- 2025: Texas
Some of these laws contain an added condition: they only activate if neighboring states adopt the same schedule, to avoid time-zone mismatches across borders.8National Conference of State Legislatures. Daylight Saving Time State Legislation The geographic spread runs from Florida to Montana to Maine, so this isn’t only a Sun Belt push.
The Health Argument Slowing It Down
Part of why the bill hasn’t cleared the House is a split among people who agree the clock change should end. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending the biannual switch but argues Congress is picking the wrong direction. Its official position is that permanent standard time, not permanent daylight saving time, is the better choice for health and safety.9American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Permanent Standard Time Is the Optimal Choice for Health and Safety
The reasoning is about circadian biology. The body’s internal clock is calibrated primarily by morning sunlight, and permanent daylight saving time would push winter sunrise an hour later, cutting morning light during the months it’s already shortest. Sleep researchers describe the resulting mismatch between the body’s timing and the alarm clock as “social jetlag.”10Sleep Education. Daylight Saving Time
The transitions themselves also carry a measurable risk. A 2024 meta-analysis of the spring shift found roughly a 4 percent increase in heart-attack risk in the days after clocks move forward.11National Institutes of Health. Daylight Saving Time Transitions and Risk of Heart Attack The fall shift, when clocks move back and people gain an hour, showed no statistically significant increase. Both sides of the congressional debate cite that finding for different reasons: proponents say it shows the switch is the problem, opponents say it shows the transition, not standard time itself, is the culprit.
The 1974 Precedent
The United States has tried this before. In January 1974, during the energy crisis, Congress enacted year-round daylight saving time as an emergency measure meant to cut electricity demand for lighting and heating. Public opinion soured within weeks.12Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Enrolled Bill H.R. 16102 – Daylight Saving Time
Winter mornings were the problem. Children were walking to school in the dark. School districts in 18 states shifted their start times later, affecting roughly 44 percent of districts and 47 percent of enrolled students in the states that reported data. The Department of Transportation found a slight increase in school-age pedestrian fatalities during February 1974 morning hours compared to the prior year, though the unusual conditions of the energy crisis made it hard to isolate the time change as the cause. A February 1974 national poll showed the public accepted daylight saving time from March through October but wanted standard time during the darkest months. By October 1974, Congress passed H.R. 16102 and returned the country to standard time for the winter. The experiment ended the same year it began.
If Congress Doesn’t Act
Without new legislation, the status quo holds indefinitely. Clocks change on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November. The 19 state trigger laws stay dormant. Any state that wants clock stability under current federal law has one option: opt out of daylight saving time entirely and stay on permanent standard time, the path Arizona and Hawaii already took.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 260a – Advancement of Time or Changeover Dates That option hasn’t picked up political momentum, because permanent standard time means earlier winter sunsets, which is the outcome most voters say they want to avoid. Turning that preference into a bill that clears both chambers has proven harder than the 2022 Senate vote made it look.