Just over a week before daylight saving time started for 2023, the Sunshine Protection Act, bills to permanently adopt daylight saving time, were reintroduced.
That was two months ago. How are they doing? Well, in November 2023, we’ll still have to change our wall clocks by one hour and “fall back.”
So if you’re not a fan of daylight saving time, the good news is you have six months to air out your grievances.
Daylight saving time: U.S. Senate OK’d Sunshine Protection Act, but Florida will still ‘spring forward,’ for now.
Daylight saving time math is a thing.
Spring forward, fall back, meet 3 hours in the summer, 2 in the winter.
Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, have previously sponsored bills, the Sunshine Protection Act, to permanently adopt daylight saving time, but have been unsuccessful (see below).
“Changing our clocks twice a year is inconvenient and entirely unnecessary. It’s time to end this antiquated practice,” Buchanan said in a March 3 news release.
Below are some things to know about daylight saving time, the Sunshine Protection Act and the pros and cons.
It’s important to note this is a bill in U.S. Congress and not the Florida Legislature. It was not a part of the Florida legislative session (which ended May 5, 2023), but the congressional process runs through December 2024.
The Sunshine Protection Act would permanently extend daylight saving time from eight months of the year to the full 12 months.
The bill was first introduced in January 2021 by Buchanan and reintroduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida and seven other bipartisan members of Congress in March 2022.
The bill would make daylight saving time permanent across the U.S.
The measure has not yet been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, nor has it been signed into law by President Biden.
The Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 passed the Florida Legislature, but Florida could not implement the law without Congress’ approval. It did not pass the U.S. House.
Rubio sponsored the bill in the Senate while Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, filed the House companion bills.
According to the bill on congress.gov, all actions have taken place in March — in 2021, Rubio introduced it; in 2022, the House “held at the desk,” which means they never voted on it.
On March 2, 2023, 12 U.S. senators reintroduced legislation that would make daylight saving time, commonly referred to as daylight savings time, daylight-saving time, and daylight’s saving time (all are incorrect, by the way, according to AP Style), permanent, nearly a year after the Senate voted unanimously to end changing the wall clocks twice a year.
Another strong supporter of nixing daylight saving time? Sen. Rick Scott.
In 2018 when he was Florida governor, Scott signed legislation aimed at putting the Sunshine State on year-round daylight saving time — but such a change required congressional approval. Scott is one of the legislators who reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023.
There have been actions taken, but it’s still in progress. It’s important to note this is a bill in U.S. Congress and not the Florida Legislature. It was not a part of the Florida legislative session (which ended May 5, 2023), but the congressional process runs through December 2024.
