If Congress passes the “Sunshine Protection Act,” daylight savings time would become permanent in Louisiana because of the state’s trigger law.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio filed the bill earlier this month, which would make daylight savings time the year-round standard time.
If the bill passes, it would allow Louisiana to spring forward forever because of a state law passed by Rep. Dodie Horton in 2020.
Daylight savings time this year begins at 2 a.m. on March 12.
Rubio’s bill won unanimous Senate approval last year, but it died in the House without getting a vote.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 19 states, which includes Louisiana, have passed legislation or passed resolutions to remain on daylight savings time – the time setting between the March and November adjustments – all year.
The only states that don’t observe daylight savings time are Hawaii and Arizona, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, though the Navajo Nation, which cuts through part of Arizona, does.
The U.S. had daylight savings time as early as 1918, with the current federal policy being enacted in 1966, as the Uniform Time Act.
In April 2022, a CBS News/YouGov survey found that 79 percent of Americans would prefer not to continue to switch each spring and fall. Forty-six percent preferred year-round daylight saving time, while 33 percent preferred year-round standard time.
Those who support year-round daylight savings time, point to public health issues including spikes in heart attack rates and car crash rates associated with sleep loss as a result of a lost hour in the spring as well as self-reporting an improvement in mood and production later in the day during the spring and summer.
Opponents of permanent daylight savings time say that standard time – the current U.S. time setting from November to March – is a closer approximation of the natural human circadian rhythm. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), daylight saving time should be eliminated.
Standard time resumes on Nov. 5, unless the Sunshine Protection Act is passed before then.
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