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

H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week. If enacted, it would make daylight saving time (DST) permanent across most of the country. The proposal is far from new. The current bill is nearly identical to nine previous versions introduced over the years.

Congress came close to ending the twice-yearly clock changes four years ago. In 2022, the Senate unanimously approved an earlier version of the Sunshine Protection Act, but the measure stalled in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and never received a vote.

There is cautious optimism that this attempt may have a better chance of becoming law. The current bill advanced out of committee with bipartisan support before passing the House by a 308-117 vote.

Eleven of North Carolina’s 14 representatives voted in favor of making daylight saving time permanent. Valerie Foushee (D-NC-4), Deborah Ross (D-NC-2), and Pat Harrigan (R-NC-10) voted against the bill. Ross and Harrigan have both said they support ending the twice-yearly clock changes, but favor making standard time permanent instead.

Harrigan recently co-sponsored the Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would establish standard time as the nation’s permanent time. He and co-sponsor Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-5) argue that permanent standard time better aligns with human circadian rhythms, citing support from sleep health organizations.

Ross said in a statement that she believes the current system “helps protect student safety by ensuring that kids aren’t walking to school or waiting for the bus during dark winter mornings.”

Support for making daylight saving time permanent has grown since Florida enacted its Sunshine Protection Act in 2018. Since then, 18 other states have passed similar measures, and lawmakers in two more are considering legislation to adopt permanent daylight saving time if federal law is changed.

While many states have urged Congress to act, they are far from united on which clock should become permanent. Eight states are considering legislation to adopt year-round standard time instead. Missouri, New Jersey, and Virginia have competing bills that would establish either permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time. Missouri alone has four separate proposals moving through the legislative process.

Another 17 states, including North Carolina, have introduced similar legislation in recent years but failed to pass it.

Some states have tied their proposals to the decisions of their neighbors. Illinois, for example, favors permanent standard time, but only if neighboring Missouri and Iowa adopt the same policy. Idaho approved legislation calling for permanent daylight saving time, but only in the portion of the state that observes Mountain Time. Whether the state’s northern panhandle would follow suit depends on lawmakers in Washington because that region observes Pacific Time.

New Hampshire has taken a similar approach. House Bill 1149 would adopt permanent standard time, but only if Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine do the same. That creates an immediate conflict because Maine passed legislation in 2019 supporting permanent daylight saving time once federal law permits it.

The question isn't as simple as picking daylight saving or standard time at the national level and sticking with it. 

The debate is more complicated than simply choosing permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time nationwide.

Hawaii and the U.S. territories, including Guam and Puerto Rico, have been exempt from daylight saving time since the Uniform Time Act of 1966 established the practice. Because these locations are close to the equator, daylight hours change very little throughout the year. While much of the continental United States sees nearly a five-hour difference in daylight between the summer and winter solstices, Honolulu experiences a change of less than two hours.

Arizona also opted out of daylight saving time, choosing to remain on Mountain Standard Time year-round to avoid extending evening daylight during the state’s hottest months. One major exception is the Navajo Nation, which observes daylight saving time because its territory extends into Utah and New Mexico.

The Hopi Reservation, which is surrounded by the Navajo Nation but lies entirely within Arizona, follows the rest of the state by remaining on standard time year-round. The result is one of the country’s most complex timekeeping arrangements.

Will this version of the Sunshine Protection Act fare better than previous attempts? The president has expressed support for ending the twice-yearly clock changes, and the bill’s strong bipartisan support in the House is encouraging. But lingering disagreements at the state level leave prospects in the Senate uncertain. During the current Congress, only about 19 percent of House-passed bills have also cleared the Senate, down from 27 percent in the previous Congress.