Senate blocks daylight-saving reform as 19 states back permanent adoption
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President Donald Trump criticized the Senate for failing to advance the Sunshine Protection Act, while 19 states have already passed permanent daylight saving time laws awaiting federal action.
Clocks will still fall back on Sunday, Nov. 1, because the Sunshine Protection Act, which passed the House in July, has not moved forward in the Senate, which is on an extended election recess. The bill, introduced by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Florida), would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States, ending the annoying biannual clock changes.
"The United States Senate is letting the Daylight Saving Bill die, when a vast Majority of the Country want it," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 26. "Most people are demanding light in the evening, but ALL want not to change their clocks anymore."
"TAKE A VOTE!"
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which established the current system; only Congress can amend it. While the federal proposal remains stalled, 19 states have enacted legislation to observe permanent daylight saving time, though the measures cannot take effect until Congress authorizes them. Florida was the first state to pass such a law in 2018, followed by others including Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Some states, such as Delaware and Utah, have conditional provisions that would trigger permanent daylight saving time only if neighboring states adopt the same change. Under existing federal law, states may adopt permanent standard time—as Arizona and Hawaii have done—but cannot unilaterally adopt permanent daylight saving time.
No Senate vote has been scheduled, and it is unclear whether the chamber will consider the bill after its recess ends on Nov. 6. Daylight saving time is set to end at 2 a.m. local time on Nov. 1, when clocks are turned back one hour, returning to standard time.