Millions of Americans woke up Sunday having to remember what time it actually was as daylight saving time got underway.
The practice of changing clocks has been present in the U.S. for decades, but many states are reacting to angry calls from residents to do away with the twice-annual time change, and instead to either adopt standard time permanently, or to set clocks ahead for daylight saving time and never to change them.
So which states want standard time as the law of the land, and which want Congress to pass legislation mandating daylight saving time? Here’s a rundown.
A Note About the Uniform Time Act
The Uniform Time Act, which set the start date of daylight saving time as the second Sunday in March and the end date as the first Sunday in November, came with a provision that allows states to either participate in the twice-yearly clock changes, or to opt out of them entirely and stick with standard time.
States are not allowed to use daylight saving time on a permanent basis under the provisions of that bill.
A Note About Federal Actions
Local
The Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 to make daylight saving time permanent, but that bill was not passed by the House, and no legislation has advanced through Congress on the topic during the current session.
President Donald Trump has expressed interest in the issue of time changes, but hasn’t definitively called for action in one direction or the other on the issue.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
Already on Standard Time
There are two states that have opted out of daylight saving time, and don’t change their clocks. Those two states are Arizona and Hawaii.
States with Laws Providing for Permanent Daylight Saving Time
A large group of states have passed laws that would automatically allow them to observe permanent daylight saving time if the federal government passes legislation permitting them to do so.
Here are the states that have those bills on the books:
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Minnesota
Mississippi
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Washington
*= These states have conditions on their laws that would only permit them to enter into permanent daylight saving time if specific numbers of neighboring states did the same.
States Mulling Time-Change Laws
While Washington passed a bill that would provide for permanent daylight saving time, there is also debate ongoing over a bill that would switch them to permanent standard time instead.
That is noteworthy because the state of Oregon is also debating a bill to adopt permanent standard time, but the current legislation would only trigger that change if Washington and California agreed to it.
Idaho and Montana are also both exploring laws that would have the states permanently observe standard time.
Utah is an interesting case, as legislators are debating a bill that would adopt permanent standard time unless Congress mandates permanent daylight saving time countrywide.
In Oklahoma, where the state already has a law that would switch to permanent daylight saving time if Congress allows it, there is a new push to instead adopt standard time permanently in an effort to stop time switches from happening.
Finally, both Maine and North Carolina are taking an interesting approach to the debate, with lawmakers mulling over two separate bills to decide whether to go for permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time.
