Bill to make daylight saving time permanent enjoys bipartisan support

A group of US senators from both parties have introduced a bill to make daylight saving time permanent in most of the United States.

Currently, daylight saving time is observed from March to November in most of the United States, except most of Arizona and Hawaii. According to the proposal, Arizona would be in the Pacific time zone year-round and Hawaii would be six hours behind the Eastern time zone. The bill would also eliminate the need to change clocks twice a year.

The legislation, if approved, would give most of the United States additional daylight in the evening during the winter months, but reduce the amount of sunlight in the morning during the day.

Five Republican senators and three Democratic senators are co-sponsoring the bill.

Fifteen states have passed bills to switch to daylight saving time year-round, but the federal government is expected to agree to the changes.

“The call to end the outdated practice of clock changing is growing across the country,” said Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. “Studies have shown many benefits of year-round daylight saving time, which is why the Florida legislature voted to make it permanent in 2018. I am proud to reintroduce this bipartisan bill to make it permanent. daylight saving time and give families in our country more stability throughout the year.

“The lifestyles of Americans are very different from what they were when daylight saving time started over a century ago,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “Making daylight saving time permanent will end the six-month disruption of daily life and give families more daylight hours to enjoy after work and school.”

Governments have implemented daylight saving time as an energy saving measure. While Americans conserve energy in the evening with more daylight, research has shown that the benefit is offset by increased energy use in the morning.

President Richard Nixon introduced year-round daylight saving time in 1974, when America was hit by an energy shortage. The law ended in 1975 when Congress established a standard practice for daylight saving time, allowing winter mornings to have more daylight, so more people could go to work and out. school in the light of day.