At 2:00 am, Sunday, March 9, clocks will spring forward one hour as society adjusts our clocks to mark the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. This loss of one hour translates into dawn and sunset occurring one hour later.
In real terms, it’s darker longer in the morning, with more sunshine in the evenings.
Could this time-setting activity that springs forward once in March and falls back again in November be over?
In 2022, a rare show of bipartisanship in the US Senate successfully passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which permanently adopts Daylight Savings Time as the official time with no falling back. Former US Senator and now US Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced the bill that would put an end to the Standard Time that results in darker evenings in the late fall and winter months.
Unfortunately, the US House argued and never brought the bill to the floor for a vote.
Many states, including Tennessee, have passed enabling legislation anticipating the federal action. Once approved at the national level, the Volunteer State is already primed to adopt Daylight Savings Time permanently. In 2019, the Tennessee General Assembly easily passed the proposal that would eliminate Standard Time.
In December 2024, newly-elected President Donald Trump pledged to adopt a permanent time change without the twice-annual time change. Time will tell if the US House and Senate will do their jobs for the American public to end a practice that began in 1918 as a wartime measure with farmers actually opposing the move. The practices and labor of our agrarians and ranchers typically begin quite early with the earlier sun welcomed.
Americans who love the outdoors and time for recreation enjoy having longer daylight after work with more time for all things outside.
Smart devices have internal programming that automatically change the times twice annually. Should legislation pass with permanent Daylight Savings Time established, software upgrades would be necessary for everything from our phones to our kitchen appliances to our automobiles. Maybe time will stand still, at least just not spring forward and fall back.