How congress’s latest push to end the twice-yearly clock change could succeed

H.R. 139, The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 approved by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week would make daylight saving time (DST) permanent across most of the country. The idea isn't new and the latest bill is nearly identical to nine others that came before it.

We last got this close to ending the twice-yearly clock change four years ago when Senate passed the 2022 version of the bill by unanimous consent only for it to die in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce with no action.

There's cautious optimism that this time could be different. The current iteration of the bill advanced through committee with bipartisan support before reaching the House floor where it passed 308-117. Unlike previous congressional efforts, this law has White House support.

11 of North Carolina's 14 representatives voted for permanent daylight saving with Valerie Foushee (D-NC-4), Deborah Ross (D-NC-2), and Pat Harrigan (R-NC-10) voting against the bill. Harrigan and Ross still support"locking the clock" but favor a different approach.

Harrigan recently co-sponsored the Sunshine for Our Kids Act proposing standard time as the permanent national default. Harringan and co-sponsor Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-5)  point to support for the approach by sleep health organizations saying it more closely aligns with human circadian rhythms.

Ross added in a statement that she believes "our current system helps protects student safety by ensuring that kids aren’t walking to school or waiting for the bus during dark winter mornings."

Interest in springing forward as the preferred permanent solution has gathered momentum since Florida passed their Sunshine Protection Act in 2018.  In the years that followed, another 18 states have passed and two more are considering similar measures making daylight saving permanent. 

The message being sent to Congress by the states is clear, but far from unified. Eight states are considering opposite laws keeping them on standard time year round. Missouri, New Jersey, and Virginia add to the chaos with competing bills calling for permanent daylight saving or standard. Missouri has four different making their way through committee.

Another 17 states, including North Carolina, tried and failed in the past to pass legislation.

Some tie their legislation to what adjacent states do like Illinois which prefers standard time but only if their neighboring Missouri and Iowa on the other side of the Mississippi River do to. Idaho passed a bill calling for permanent daylight saving but only for part of the state. The temporal fate of Idaho’s northern panhandle is left to legislators in Washington State for timezone reasons.

New Hampshire’s house bill 1149 essentially says “we like standard time but only if Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine do". The problem is: Maine passed a bill in 2019 adopting permanent daylight saving time as soon as federal law allows it.

The question isn't as simple as picking daylight saving or standard time and sticking with it.  Hawaii and U.S. territories including Guam and Puerto Rico have been exempt from daylight saving since the Uniform Time Act of 1966 which established the time shifting practice was passed. 

Daylight hours vary little throughout the year for areas so close to the equator.  While we see a swing of nearly 5 hours of daylight between the summer and winter solstices, the difference is less than 2 hours in Honolulu. Arizona has also chosen to stay on standard time to avoid extending evening sunlight during Arizona’s hottest months.  

Should the current bill become law, it will simplify but not solve Arizona's complex relationship with time changes.  Most of Arizona will remain on Mountain Standard Time year-round while the Navajo Nation will  likely remain one hour ahead year-round, effectively using permanent Mountain Daylight Time, in large part because their lands extend into Utah and New Mexico.

The Hopi reservation, which is surrounded by DST observing Navajo lands, would likely continue to follow the rest of Arizona following standard time.  For more see the long complex history of daylight saving 

Will this iteration of the Sunshine Protection Act be different? The president has indicated his support in the past and the bipartisan support in the House are good signs, but just 19% of House bills have pass the current Senate, down from 27% in the previous Congress.