The Arguments for Permanent Daylight Savings Time Rages On
By J. Thomas Wade
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
September 22, 2026
GULF SHORES, Ala. The debate has rambled on for years, maybe even decades.
To be or not to be, has been the question about time.
But this question is really about time zones and daylight savings time.
Earlier this year, the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent throughout the U.S., with few exceptions. It’s been held up in the Senate since July but, now that the chamber has returned from recess, there’s a chance the legislation could be picked up.
Many argue it makes no difference while others say it makes perfect sense for every state to be in the same time zone.
If it can pass the Senate, the bill seems to stand a fair chance of becoming law, with President Trump already expressing support.
Many states have already voted to be part of the permanent daylight saving time.
At present, states are only allowed to opt into year-round permanent standard time, as Hawaii and much of Arizona have done. But that hasn’t stopped 19 states from enacting legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent in their jurisdiction, pending approval from Congress.
In 2018, Florida became the first state to call for year-round DST. It’s congressional lawmakers from the Sunshine State who have spearheaded several attempts to make daylight saving time permanent in the U.S., including the version of the Sunshine Protection Act passed by the House this year.
Last year, Maine and Texas became the latest states to approve year-round daylight saving time legislation.
Some states say that permanent daylight savings time would save money on utilities and even prevent things like depression, sleep disorders and an array of other issues the darkness has on certain people.
Several of the states that have enacted similar legislation within the past eight years have stipulations in their bills that further rely on their neighbors locking their clocks. Delaware, for example, followed Florida’s lead but said that Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania must also make daylight saving time permanent. None of them have, though bills to do so in New Jersey and Pennsylvania remain alive.
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, and Washington have similar requirements within their enacted legislation. Oregon (Malheur County would be excluded) has enacted legislation as well but awaits action by California. Voters there gave their legislators the OK to lock the clocks in 2018, but the state has failed to do so.
Still, the age-old question has other states looking to enact all-year daylight saving time legislation including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
As fall moves in and winter soon will be knocking at our doors once more bringing earlier darkness to many states, will turning our clocks back or moving them forward one or two hours really make a difference in the scheme of things?
Some states have tried to get their folks on board but failed to make daylight saving time permanent this year including Alaska, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia.
In January of 1974, President Richard Nixon signed a law to make daylight saving time permanent for a two-year trial to save energy during the oil crisis.
But in October, the trial was canceled and repealed in less than a year. Dark winter morning commutes caused public support to drop sharply, leading Congress to reverse the law.
During World War II, Congress also used year-round daylight-saving time, called “War Time,” from February 1942 to September 1945, but as the war ended, so did national daylight savings time.
For now, though, no clocks are locking on daylight saving time.
It’s still not clear if the debate has merit but the arguments that have continued for more than fifty years, don’t seem to be going anywhere.
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