On Mar. 15, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to make daylight savings time permanent, beginning in 2023. Under the title “Sunshine Protection Act,” the bill would terminate the annual traditions individuals follow by changing their clocks. 

The act passed through the Senate unanimously, with supporters advocating for brighter afternoons on behalf of the argument that the time change will promote economic activity. 

In order to become law, the legislation must pass through the House and be signed by President Biden for the shift to officially take effect next year.  

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has been pushing a piece of legislation like this since 2018, yet had never received recognition at a senate-wide hearing — let alone had a full legislative markup of the bill.

Rubio’s “Sunshine Protection Act” had just 18 co-sponsors. The companion bill in the House, led by Representative Vern Buchanan of Florida, has 41 co-sponsors and received a hearing last week before a consumer protection subcommittee.

Since the 1960s, Daylight savings time has been in place in nearly all of the United States. The change was initially attempted in 1918, however, after a period of unpopularity; the program was abolished after World War I. Moreover, Germany was the first nation to fully adopt daylight savings time two years prior in 1916, as a way to conserve fuel during the war. Daylight savings was not the standard among people living in the U.S. until the Uniform Time Act of 1966, mandating standard time across the country, including established time zones.

The bill would allow Arizona and Hawaii, which do not observe daylight savings time, to remain on standard time as well as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Recently, most of the U.S. followed the tradition of springing their clocks forward an hour and will return to standard time in November — setting their clocks back again.