Changing our clock twice a year could soon become a thing of the past. The U.S. Senate just passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021. This bill would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent across the country starting in 2023. As a result, we would not “fall back” in November and instead have a full year of DST, instead of eight months. In this article, we’ll take a look into the history of Daylight Saving Time in the United States.
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time is a system that reduces electricity by extending daylight hours. On the second Sunday of March at 2 a.m., clocks move forward one hour. This is helpful because in the summer months, the sun is out for longer periods of time, so people can rely on daylight to avoid switching lights on. Germany was the first country to start DST during the First World War to conserve fuel.
Farmers hated DST
It’s a common myth that the United States adopted DST to help farmers. The opposite is true. When the United States implemented DST in 1918 to help with the war efforts, the agricultural industry was extremely opposed. Because of this change, farmers had to wait an extra hour for dew to evaporate to harvest hay. Also, hired hands worked less since they still left at the same time for dinner and cows weren’t ready to be milked an hour earlier to meet shipping schedules.
More local history: The Hidden History of Sulphur Springs
In 1919, there was a repeal of national daylight saving time. But large cities with a lot of retail and shops liked the extra hours of daylight. So cities like New York and Chicago continued to shift their clocks. States could start and end DST whenever they wanted. This led to what Time magazine coined as “a chaos of clocks.”
So in 1966, the U.S. government enacted of the Uniform Time Act, which standardized daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. The current March-November system the US follows did not begin until 2007. As a result, the United States now has eight months of DST, and only four months of standard time from November to March.
A permanent change
In 2018, Florida legislature enacted year-round DST. However, for Florida’s change to apply, a change in the federal statute is required. Already 19 other states have passed similar laws, resolutions, or voter initiatives, and dozens more are looking to do so.
If passed by the House and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Sunshine Protection Act would apply to those states that currently take part in DST. Some benefits of this change, according to Senator Marco Rubio, include a reduction of car crashes, benefits to the economy, an increase in physical activity and reduction in energy use.