A proposal to make daylight saving time permanent in the U.S. cleared the Senate Tuesday and now heads to the House of Representatives.
The Sunshine Protection Act would need to be approved by the House and then signed into law by President Joe Biden before it became official. Even then, it wouldn’t take effect until Nov. 20, 2023, to allow airlines and other industries to prepare, reports Reuters.
That means we would “fall back” for the final time in November 2023, then “spring forward” again once and for all in March 2024.
The change would mean later sunsets in the winter months, but it would also mean later sunrises.
For example, the sun typically rises around 7:15 a.m. and sets around 4:30 p.m. on the first day of winter in New York City. Permanent daylight saving time would change sunrise to 8:15 a.m. and sunset to 5:30 p.m.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who sponsored the bill, touted various benefits of permanent daylight saving on the Senate floor, reports The Hill.
“There’s strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock switching has, there’s an increase in heart attacks, car accidents and pedestrian accidents,” he said.
Rubio and other Sunshine Protection Act supporters also say it would reduce crime in the evening hours and encourage more after-school physical activity for kids.
Most Americans just got done setting their clocks forwards an hour on Sunday when daylight saving time began. Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t observe the time change.
