It is that time of the year again when the clock is advanced from standard time to daylight saving time in March. Many wonder why we adjust the time twice a year, especially in a world which may not need it. By advancing clocks during warmer months, it makes the day occur that darkness falls at a later clock time. Summer months have nicer weather in North America, and longer hours of sunlight based off Earth’s orbit around the Sun. DST is generally not observed near the equator, where sunrise and sunset times do not vary enough to justify it. Some countries observe it only in some regions; for example, parts of Australia observe it, while other parts do not, and the United States observes it, except Arizona and Hawaii, which do not. Only a minority of the world’s population uses DST; Asia and Africa generally do not observe it.

By synchronously resetting all clocks in a region to one hour ahead of standard time, individuals who follow such a year-round schedule will wake an hour earlier than they would have otherwise; they will begin and complete daily work routines an hour earlier, and they will have available to them an extra hour of daylight after their workday activities. However, they will have one less hour of daylight at the start of each day, making the policy less practical during winter.

Daylight saving time in the United States is the practice of setting the clock forward by one hour when there is longer daylight during day, so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. Most areas of the United States and Canada observe daylight saving time (DST), the exceptions being Arizona (except for the Navajo, who do observe daylight saving time on tribal lands), Hawaii, and the overseas territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established the system of uniform daylight saving time throughout the US.

In the U.S., daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, with the time changes taking place at 2:00 a.m. local time. With a mnemonic word play referring to seasons, clocks “spring forward, fall back”—that is, in springtime the clocks are moved forward from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and in fall they are moved back from 2:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Daylight saving time lasts for a total of 34 weeks (238 days) every year, about 65% of the entire year.

The following table lists recent past and near future starting and ending dates of daylight saving time in the United States of America:

YearStartEnd
2015March 8November 1
2016March 13November 6
2017March 12November 5
2018March 11November 4
2019March 10November 3
2020March 8November 1
2021March 14November 7
2022March 13November 6
2023March 12November 5
2024March 10November 3
2025March 9November 2
2026March 8November 1
2027March 14November 7
2028March 12November 5
2029March 11November 4

Do we still need to do this task in an industrialized world so reliant on accurate timekeeping? Well, a movement here in the United States has begun to abolish this nonsense. The movement has been organized in support of the legalization of using daylight saving time as the year-round clock option. Bills have been introduced in more than 30 states to end DST or make it permanent.

The main argument for introducing year-round DST is that the lifestyles and work patterns of modern-day citizens are no longer compatible with the concept of shifting the clock every spring and fall. Supporters also argue that switching to ”Forward Time” would also result in saving energy by reducing the need for artificial light. The Sunshine Protection Act of 2019 was introduced in the Senate by Senator Marco Rubio (R) of Florida to make the times used for DST standard time and abolish DST. It has bipartisan support from senators from Washington and Tennessee but it has not yet received a hearing in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee.

In 2015, the Nevada Senate passed Nevada Assembly Joint Resolution 4, which urged Congress to enact legislation allowing individual states to establish daylight saving time as the standard time in their respective states throughout the calendar year. This would mean that Nevada is on the same time as Arizona all year, but would be an hour ahead of California in the winter. The United States Congress has not yet enacted any enabling legislation in this regard.

On March 6, 2018, the Florida Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act which would put Florida on permanent daylight saving time year round, and Governor Rick Scott signed it March 23. Congress would need to amend the existing 1966 federal law to allow the change.

In November 2018, voters in California ratified a legislative plan for year-round daylight saving time. However, it still requires the vote of two-thirds of the state’s legislature and the approval of Congress.

In 2019, the Washington State Legislature passed Substitute House Bill 1196, which would establish year-round observation of daylight saving time contingent on the United States Congress amending federal law to authorize states to observe daylight saving time year-round.

Tennessee and Oregon also passed bills in 2019 for year-round DST, and legislative houses in Alabama and Arkansas also approved resolutions in favor.

What do you think, OCSN fans? Keep it or toss DST?