Arizona, Hawaii, and the overseas territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands are the only US states and dependent areas that do not observe Daylight Savings Time.
For years there have been bills to bring the constant changing of the clocks to a stop, one way or the other, in almost every state in America.
According to Reuters, over 30 states, have introduced legislation to end the practice of changing times each year. The Senate unanimously passed legislation, March 16, 2022, that would make daylight saving time permanent in the United States by fall 2023. It’s unclear why the House of Representatives is dragging it’s feet on the bill. Under the bill, daylight saving time would no longer end in November and time changes twice a year would cease.
The measure, sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, would take effect in Nov. 2023, meaning that Americans would spring their clocks forward in March of this year, and then wouldn’t have to adjust the time after that. However, the bill has hit a “brick wall” in the House of Representatives and action is yet to be taken.
As of March 2023, over 30 states have enacted legislation or passed legislation to provide year-round daylight savings time, should Congress allow it, or in some instances, if a nearby state passed similar changes. Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
Two bills have been introduced once again in New Mexico. SB191 sponsored by Senator Bobby Gonzales, aims to keep the state on standard time year-round, while SB287 sponsored by Senator Cliff Pirtle, would make daylight saving time year-round as long as all or part of Texas (specifically, El Paso County, Texas) passes a similar law. In Texas, lawmakers are hoping to pass a resolution that would put the choice between permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time up to voters in November.
But since federal law does not yet allow a full-time shift, “Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes,” NCSL reported. If more than 30 states have approved or in the process of approving this action, you would think the national government would pay attention.
Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 am. Set your clocks forward one hour.
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