- The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 seeks to make daylight saving time permanent across the U.S.
- Both the Senate and House versions have been sent to committee for review.
- States need congressional approval and the president’s signature to make DST permanent.
At 2 a.m. Sunday, March 9, most of the United States will turn the clocks forward and shift into daylight saving time.
The twice-annual practice of moving the clock forward and then back an hour has been under fire since it was first implemented in 1918. Florida was the first state in 2018 to try to make daylight saving time permanent.
While the Sunshine Protection Act was approved by the U.S. Senate, it has never been approved by the House of Representatives and signed by the president.
For daylight saving time to be permanent, it must be approved by both houses and signed into law.
The flip side, making standard time permanent, can be enacted by a state with congressional approval.
Here’s what is happening in 2025.
When is the time change?
We’ll switch to daylight saving time, turning our clocks forward one hour and losing an hour of sleep at 2 a.m. March 9, 2025.
Countdown to daylight saving saving time: How much longer until the time change?
‘Sunshine Protection Act of 2025’: Florida congressmen sponsor bills to make daylight saving time permanent
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott introduced legislation — S.R. 29, known as the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 — in January to officially “lock the clock” and end the twice-yearly time change and make daylight saving time the national year-round standard.
“I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year — it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than benefit to them.
➤ ‘Stupid practice!’ Sen. Marco Rubio renews push to stop changing time twice a year
“I’m excited to have President Trump back in the White House and fully on board to LOCK THE CLOCK so we can get this good bill passed and make this common-sense change that will simplify and benefit the lives of American families.”
In the U.S. House, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan filed H.R. 139, also seeking (again) to make daylight saving time permanent across the U.S.
What’s the status of the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025?
S.R. 29 was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Jan. 7, 2025, according to Congress.gov.
H.R. 139 also was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on on Jan. 7, 2025.
President Trump in favor of eliminating daylight saving time
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t!” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social.
“Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
Florida leads the charge to make daylight saving time permanent
In 2018, Florida became the first state to pass legislation — the Sunshine Protection Act — to remain on daylight saving time permanently.
While the Sunshine Act was approved by Scott, who was Florida’s governor at the time. It has repeatedly failed to get congressional approval to be implemented.
The Sunshine Protection Act would extend daylight saving time from eight months of the year to the full year.
The bill was first introduced in 2018 by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida — now the U.S. secretary of state — and Buchanan, Florida-District 16, for the 115th Congress. It’s been introduced in every Congress since then to change the “outdated tradition” of changing clocks back and forth, Rubio has said previously.
How many states want to remain on daylight saving time permanently?
Almost every state, since 2015, has considered multiple time zone bills, but none of significance passed until 2018, when Florida became the first state to enact legislation to permanently observe daylight saving time, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
➤ How many states have joined Florida to make daylight saving time permanent? See the list
Over the next six years, “20 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, if Congress were to allow such a change, and in some cases, if surrounding states enact the same legislation.”
Will daylight saving time go away?
Congress has been asked repeatedly since 2018 to stop the twice-annual practice of changing between daylight saving and standard time.
In 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. The U.S. House of Representatives did not pass it and then-President Joe Biden did not sign it.
Whether the 119th Congress will pass the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 remains to be seen.
Can a state stay on daylight saving time all year?
Yes, but Congress needs to approve it.
A state on daylight saving time, is required by law to follow the dates set by U.S. Code 15 USC 260a, which establishes daylight saving time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.
“In order for a state to stay on DST year-round, Congress would need to approve an amendment to the Uniform Time Act,” said the U.S. Department of Transportation via email.
“A state cannot stay permanently on DST under current federal law.”
Some want to stay on standard time all year
Some states would rather stay on standard time all year instead of staying on daylight saving time.
That would not require congressional approval and can be done by state law, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“The state would just need to let DOT — and the rest of the world — know that they no longer observe DST, if that is the decision,” the DOT said in an email.
“Ditch Daylight Saving Time. Permanent Standard Time lets us sleep later for health, mood, safety, education, economy, environment,” said Save Standard Time on X, formerly known as Twitter.
What’s the difference between staying on standard time or daylight saving time all year?
Daylight saving time would mean later sunrises and sunsets, which means more time for outdoor activities after work or in the evenings.
Standard time would mean earlier sunrises and sunsets, which some argue increase safety in the mornings for school children and is more in line with our biological circadian rhythms, according to savestandardtime.
“The medical and scientific communities are unified … that permanent standard time is better for human health,” said Erik Herzog, a professor of biology and neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis and the former president of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
Some states don’t observe daylight saving time
Hawaii and most of Arizona — except the Navajo Nation — do not recognize daylight saving time. They remain on standard time all year.
Spring forward, fall back helps to remember which way to turn your clock
The handy phrase to spring forward and fall back is a simple way to remember which way clocks should move in the spring and in the fall.
Is it daylight saving time or Daylight Savings Time?
It’s daylight saving time, no s and no capital letters.
