Sunshine Protection Act

Last updated

Sunshine Protection Act
Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg
Long titleAn Act to make daylight saving time permanent, and for other purposes.
Announced inthe 118th United States Congress
Sponsored by Marco Rubio (R–FL), Vern Buchanan (R–FL)
Number of co-sponsors20 (House), 14 (Senate)
Codification
Acts affected Uniform Time Act
Legislative history

The Sunshine Protection Act is a proposed United States federal law that would make U.S. daylight saving time permanent, meaning the time would no longer change twice per year. [1] [2] The bill has been proposed during several sessions of Congress. In 2022, the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent, although several senators stated later that they would have objected if they had known that the bill could pass. No iteration of the bill has passed the House.

Contents

Background

The Ohio Clock in the U.S. Capitol being turned forward for the first U.S. daylight saving time on March 31, 1918. Senate Sergeant at Arms Charles Higgins turns forward the Ohio Clock for the first Daylight Saving Time, while Senators William Calder (NY), William Saulsbury, Jr. (DE), and Joseph T. LOC hec.13949 (cropped).jpg
The Ohio Clock in the U.S. Capitol being turned forward for the first U.S. daylight saving time on March 31, 1918.

Time zones were first introduced in the United States in 1883 by railroad companies. [3] In 1918, they were codified into federal law by the Standard Time Act, which also included a provision for nationwide daylight saving time modeled after European laws designed to save energy during World War I, but that component was repealed a year later due to protests by farmers. [3] Many states subsequently introduced daylight saving time, and in 1966, the Uniform Time Act standardized the dates when it begins and ends. [3] Hawaii, most of Arizona, and the U.S. territories have opted to observe permanent standard time, [4] but the Uniform Time Act forbids observation of permanent daylight saving time. [3]

The Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act enacted year-round daylight saving time for a two-year experiment from January 6, 1974, to April 7, 1975, but Congress later ended the experiment early on October 27, 1974, and did not make it permanent [5] due to unfavorable public opinion, especially regarding concerns about children walking to school and waiting for school buses on dark winter mornings. [6] [7]

In the late 2010s, resolutions were passed in more than 30 states advocating for the federal government to abolish the annual transitions. [8]

Provisions

The Sunshine Protection Act would establish a permanent daylight saving time in the U.S., leading to later sunrises and sunsets during the four months in which most of the U.S. currently observes standard time, resulting in less sunlight in the morning hours and more sunlight in the evening ones. It would not mandate that states and territories that observe permanent standard time (American Samoa, most of Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) switch to permanent daylight saving time. [9]

Legislative history

The Sunshine Protection Act was first introduced in 2018 by U.S. senator Marco Rubio (R‑FL), modeled after a 2018 Florida bill of the same name. [10] U.S. president Donald Trump tweeted that he would be willing to sign it, [11] but it failed to advance. [10] A reintroduction in 2019 by Vern Buchanan (R‑FL 16th) similarly failed. [10]

The 2021 iteration was filed in the U.S. House of Representatives by Buchanan on January 4, 2021, [2] and in the U.S. Senate by Rubio on March 9, 2021. The bill received bipartisan support, and was cosponsored in the Senate by James Lankford (R‑OK), Roy Blunt (R‑MO), Sheldon Whitehouse (D‑RI), Ron Wyden, (D‑OR); Cindy Hyde-Smith, (R‑MS), Rick Scott (R‑FL), and Ed Markey (D‑MA). [9] It passed the Senate by unanimous consent on March 15, 2022. [12] Two days later, BuzzFeed News reported that many senators were not aware that a request had been made for the bill to pass via unanimous consent and were not ready to raise an objection. Rubio's office had notified every other senator's office of the request; however, it is a frequent occurrence for legislative staff to "vet the request" themselves to "decide if an issue is too benign or obviously doomed to bother their boss with." BuzzFeed identified Tom Cotton (R‑AR) as a senator who, according to a member of his staff, was vehemently opposed to the bill and would have objected to its passage had he been informed of it. [13] [14] Upon being passed by the Senate, the bill faced uncertain prospects in the House. [15] [16] Ultimately, the 117th Congress ended without the House voting on the bill. [17]

A 2023 bill has been introduced, but is at a standstill for the time being. As of March 25,2024, the full history is as follows:

CongressShort titleBill number(s)Date introducedSponsor(s)# of cosponsorsLatest status
115th Congress Sunshine Protection Act of 2018 H.R. 5279 March 14, 2018 Vern Buchanan (R‑FL 16th)3Died in committee
S. 2537 March 12, 2018 Marco Rubio (R‑FL)0Died in committee
116th Congress Sunshine Protection Act of 2019 H.R. 1556 March 6, 2019 Vern Buchanan (R‑FL 16th)23Died in committee
S. 670 March 6, 2019 Marco Rubio (R‑FL)13Died in committee
117th Congress Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 H.R. 69 January 4, 2021 Vern Buchanan (R‑FL 16th)48Died in committee
S. 623 March 9, 2021 Marco Rubio (R‑FL)18Passed Senate; died in the House
118th Congress Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 H.R. 1279 March 1, 2023 Vern Buchanan (R‑FL 16th)38Referred to the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce
S. 582 March 1, 2023 Marco Rubio (R‑FL)18Referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Debate

Numerous polls have found that most Americans believe that a standard time should be fixed and permanent—as many as 75% favor no longer changing clocks twice per year. [18] One of the most common observations among researchers of varying backgrounds is that the change itself causes most of the negative effects, more so than either standard time or daylight saving time. [1] Researchers have observed numerous ill effects of the annual transitions, including reduced worker productivity, increased heart attacks and strokes, increased medical errors, [19] and increased traffic incidents. [3]

The debate over the bill mainly concerns whether it is better to have more sunlight in the morning or the evening. A 2023 YouGov poll found that half of Americans supported permanent daylight time, 31% were in favor of permanent standard time, and 19% had no preference or were not sure. [20] [21] Opponents of the Sunshine Protection Act argue permanent standard time would be more beneficial to health and human welfare. [22] [23] Numerous health specialists, safety experts, and research societies consider permanent standard time better for health, safety, schools, and the economy. [24] [25] [26] However the magnitude of effect in either direction is disputed. [27] This happens partly because standard time aligns with the natural circadian cycle, whereas daylight saving time is an hour ahead. Furthermore, the majority of land within each American time zone is skewed westward, creating sunrises and sunsets that are both artificially late even without Daylight Saving Time. (There are exceptions, such as Long Island and the New England states). It is hypothesized closer harmony between standard time and biology contributes to safer morning commutes, [24] [28] improved student welfare, [29] [30] practicability of certain religious practices (such as in Orthodox Judaism and Islam), [31] increased exposure to healthy morning sunlight, [25] and higher productivity and wages. [32] However, advocates of permanent daylight saving time argue it has its own benefits [33] including decreased crime, [34] less frequent traffic incidents, longer evening outdoor recreation and decreased prevalence of seasonal depression. [35] [36] Research is unclear about which time setting conserves more energy. [3] [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time</span> Seasonal change of clock settings

Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight saving(s), daylight savings time, daylight time (United States and Canada), or summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the longer daylight available during summer so that darkness falls at a later clock time. The typical implementation of DST is to set clocks forward by one hour in spring or late winter, and to set clocks back by one hour to standard time in the autumn (or fall in North American English, hence the mnemonic: "spring forward and fall back").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Time Zone</span> Time zone in North America

The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and some Caribbean islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Time Zone</span> Time zone in North America

The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Time Zone</span> North American time zone

The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). During daylight saving time, a time offset of UTC−07:00 is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in the United States</span> Time zones in the U.S.

In the United States, time is divided into nine standard time zones covering the states, territories and other US possessions, with most of the country observing daylight saving time (DST) for approximately the spring, summer, and fall months. The time zone boundaries and DST observance are regulated by the Department of Transportation, but no single map of those existed until the agency announced intentions to make one in September 2022. Official and highly precise timekeeping services (clocks) are provided by two federal agencies: the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ; and the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). The clocks run by these services are kept synchronized with each other as well as with those of other international timekeeping organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uniform Time Act</span> United States timekeeping and daylight saving time law

The Uniform Time Act of 1966, Pub. L. 89–387, 80 Stat. 107, enacted April 13, 1966, was a Law of the United States to "promote the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones" prescribed by the Standard Time Act of 1918. Its intended effect was to simplify the official pattern of where and when daylight saving time (DST) is applied within the U.S. Prior to this law, each state had its own scheme for when DST would begin and end, and in some cases, which parts of the state should use it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic Time Zone</span> UTC minus four hours

The Atlantic Time Zone is a geographical region that keeps standard time—called Atlantic Standard Time (AST)—by subtracting four hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), resulting in UTC−04:00. AST is observed in parts of North America including several Caribbean islands. During part of the year, some portions of the zone observe daylight saving time, referred to as Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT), by moving their clocks forward one hour to UTC−03:00. The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 60th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy Policy Act of 2005</span> United States Law

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a federal law signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The act, described by proponents as an attempt to combat growing energy problems, changed US energy policy by providing tax incentives and loan guarantees for energy production of various types. The most consequential aspect of the law was to greatly increase ethanol production to be blended with gasoline. The law also repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, effective February 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Summer Time</span> Identifier for a time offset from UTC of +1

During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC+00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and evenings one hour more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Canada</span>

Canada is divided into six time zones. Most areas of the country's provinces and territories operate on standard time from the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March and daylight saving time the rest of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kennedy (Louisiana politician)</span> US lawyer and politician

John Neely Kennedy is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Louisiana since 2017. A Republican, he served as the Louisiana State Treasurer from 2000 to 2017, as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue from 1996 to 1999, and as special counsel and then cabinet member to Governor Buddy Roemer from 1988 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time in the United States</span> Practice of setting the clock forward by one hour in the United states

Most of the United States observes daylight saving time (DST), the practice of setting the clock forward by one hour when there is longer daylight during the day, so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less. Exceptions include Arizona, Hawaii, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established a uniform set of rules for states opting to observe daylight saving time.

Daylight Saving for South East Queensland (DS4SEQ) was a political party in Queensland, Australia. It was a single-issue party, run by volunteers, that advocated the introduction of Daylight Saving into Queensland, or at the very least into South East Queensland under a dual-time zone arrangement - with the remainder of the state to maintain standard time. The party proposed a possible dual time zone, which included the following 15 local and regional government areas: Brisbane, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Goondiwindi, Gympie, Ipswich, Lockyer, Logan, Moreton Bay, Redland, Scenic Rim, Somerset, Southern Downs, Sunshine Coast, and Toowoomba. The party was officially registered with the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) in December 2008 and was not registered with the Australian Electoral Commission. In August 2012, DS4SEQ submitted a request to the ECQ to deregister the party, and this process was finalised in October 2012. DS4SEQ maintains a presence as a lobby group and may potentially re-register as a political party in the future. Jason Furze was leader of the party from December 2008 until June 2011.

In Canada, daylight saving time (DST) is observed in nine of the country's ten provinces and two of its three territories—though with exceptions in parts of several provinces and Nunavut.

Parts of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji are areas of Oceania that currently observe daylight saving time (DST).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daylight saving time by country</span>

Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks during part of the year, typically by one hour around spring and summer, so that daylight ends at a later time of the day. As of 2024, DST is observed in most of Europe, most of North America and parts of Africa and Asia around the Northern Hemisphere summer, and in parts of South America and Oceania around the Southern Hemisphere summer. It was also formerly observed in other areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Time in Arizona</span> Time Standard in the state of Arizona

Time in Arizona, as in all U.S. states, is regulated by the United States Department of Transportation as well as by state and tribal law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political positions of Marco Rubio</span>

Marco Rubio is a Republican United States Senator from Florida. Rubio was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in the 2016 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 California Proposition 7</span> Ballot measure in California permitting the state to change daylight saving time

Proposition 7 was a California ballot proposition in that state's general election on November 6, 2018. The measure passed, by a vote of about 60% Yes to 40% No.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Permanent time observation in the United States</span> Year-round standard time in the US

Establishing either permanent standard or daylight saving time (DST) eliminates the practice of semi-annual clock changes, specifically the advancement of clocks by one hour from standard time to DST on the second Sunday in March and the retraction of clocks by one hour from DST to standard time on the first Sunday in November.

References

  1. 1 2 Soave, Robby (March 15, 2022). "The Senate Unanimously Voted To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent, a Great Idea". Reason. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Ali, Shirin (March 11, 2021). "Senators once again introduce a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent". CNN . Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Burdick, Alan (March 12, 2017). "Can We Fix Daylight-Saving Time for Good?". The New Yorker . Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Daylight Saving Time | State Legislation". National Conference of State Legislatures . Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  5. ↑ Steade, Susan (October 30, 2016). "The year Daylight Saving Time went too far" . The Mercury News.
  6. ↑ Ripley, Anthony (October 1, 1974). "Senate Votes Return to Standard Time For Four Months and Sends Bill to Ford" . New York Times . Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  7. ↑ Clark, James (October 31, 2018). "Daylight Saving Year-Round: Once a Disaster, Always a Disaster". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  8. ↑ Goble, Keith (March 8, 2019). "Action pursued in 30 states to end time changes". Land Line . Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  9. 1 2 O'Kane, Caitlin (March 10, 2021). "Group of bipartisan senators pushes for permanent Daylight Saving Time". CBS News . Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 Derby, Kevin (March 10, 2021). "Marco Rubio, Rick Scott Bring Back Proposal to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent in Florida". Florida Daily . Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Trump: Making daylight saving time permanent is 'OK with me'". Associated Press . March 11, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  12. ↑ Reichert, Corinne (March 15, 2022). "Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent". CNET . Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  13. ↑ McLeod, Paul (March 17, 2022). "Everyone was surprised by the Senate passing permanent daylight saving time. Especially the senators". BuzzFeed News . Archived from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  14. ↑ Kennedy, Brigid (March 17, 2022). "The quirky process the Senate used to pass permanent daylight savings". The Week . Archived from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  15. ↑ Diamond, Dan (March 19, 2022). "Senate plan for permanent daylight saving time faces doubts in the House". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  16. ↑ Schnell, Mychael (November 5, 2022). "Time is running out for House to pass permanent daylight saving bill". The Hill . Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  17. ↑ "S.623 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): A bill to make daylight saving time permanent, and for other purposes". Congress.gov. United States Congress. March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  18. ↑ Benz, Jennifer; Connelly, Marjorie; Tompson, Trevor (November 5, 2021). "Dislike for changing the clocks persists". apnorc.org. Associated Press. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  19. ↑ Kolla, B; Coombes, B J; Morgenthaler, T I; Mansukhani, M P (May 27, 2020). "0173 Spring Forward, Fall Back: Increased Patient Safety-Related Adverse Events Following the Spring Time Change". Sleep . 43 (Supplement 1): A69. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa056.171 .
  20. ↑ "YouGov Survey: Daylight Saving Time" (PDF).
  21. ↑ Gal, Shayanne. "Daylight-saving time is one of the most controversial and impossible issues of our age". Business Insider.
  22. ↑ Steckelberg, Aaron; Bever, Lindsey. "Why daylight saving time is worse for your body than standard time". Washington Post. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  23. ↑ Medicine, American Academy of Sleep (May 23, 2022). "American Academy of Sleep Medicine opposes permanent daylight saving time bill". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  24. 1 2 Rishi, Muhammad Adeel; Ahmed, Omer; Barrantes Perez, Jairo H.; Berneking, Michael; Dombrowsky, Joseph; Flynn-Evans, Erin E.; Santiago, Vicente; Sullivan, Shannon S.; Upender, Raghu; Yuen, Kin; Abbasi-Feinberg, Fariha; Aurora, R. Nisha; Carden, Kelly A.; Kirsch, Douglas B.; Kristo, David A.; Malhotra, Raman K.; Martin, Jennifer L.; Olson, Eric J.; Ramar, Kannan; Rosen, Carol L.; Rowley, James A.; Shelgikar, Anita V.; Gurubhagavatula, Indira (October 2020). "Daylight Saving Time: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Statement". Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine . 16 (10): 1781–1784. doi:10.5664/jcsm.8780. PMC   7954020 . PMID   32844740.
  25. 1 2 "Year-Round Daylight Time Will Cause 'Permanent Jet Lag,' Sleep Experts Warn in Letter to Government". CBC News. October 31, 2019. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  26. ↑
  27. ↑ Blume, Christine; Schabus, Manuel (January 19, 2020). "Perspective: Daylight Saving Time—An Advocacy for a Balanced View and against Fanning Fear". Clocks & Sleep. 2 (1): 19–25. doi: 10.3390/clockssleep2010003 . ISSN   2624-5175. PMC   7445807 . PMID   33089187.
  28. ↑ Achenbach, Joel (March 8, 2019). "Springing forward to daylight saving time is obsolete, confusing and unhealthy, critics say". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  29. ↑ Jenkins, Evan (January 31, 1974). "Schools Ask End to Daylight Time". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 9, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Permanent Daylight Savings May Cancel Out Changes to School Start Times". Cell Press. April 22, 2019. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  31. ↑
  32. ↑ Roenneberg, Till; Winnebeck, Eva C.; Klerman, Elizabeth B. (August 7, 2019). "Daylight Saving Time and Artificial Time Zones – A Battle Between Biological and Social Times". Frontiers in Physiology. 10: 944. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00944 . PMC   6692659 . PMID   31447685.
  33. ↑ "Time Well Spent: An Economic Analysis of Daylight Saving Time Legislation". Wake Forest Law Review. January 19, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  34. ↑ Doleac, Jennifer L.; Sanders, Nicholas J. (December 2015). "Under the Cover of Darkness: How Ambient Light Influences Criminal Activity". Review of Economics and Statistics . 97 (5): 1093–1103. doi:10.1162/REST_a_00547. S2CID   57566972.
  35. ↑ Smith, Ray A. (October 26, 2020). "Why the Time Change Is Trickier When Working From Home" . The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  36. ↑ Hansen, Bertel T.; Sønderskov, Kim M.; Hageman, Ida; Dinesen, Peter T.; Østergaard, Søren D. (May 2017). "Daylight Savings Time Transitions and the Incidence Rate of Unipolar Depressive Episodes". Epidemiology . 28 (3): 346–353. doi:10.1097/EDE.0000000000000580. PMID   27775953. S2CID   4924028.
  37. ↑
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.