Jim Hartman
This Sunday, most of the United States will turn their clocks forward and shift into daylight saving time. On Sunday, Nov. 2, they will fall back to standard time.
Daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends 8 months later on the first Sunday in November (per 15 U.S. Code 260a).
For a state to stay on DST all year requires congressional approval. In contrast, a state can stay on standard time without congressional action.
Two states, Hawaii and Arizona, are permanently on standard 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. Social media is now credited with greatly magnifying public gripes about the time change.
A recent YouGov poll of adults found 63% would end the practice.
President Trump entered the debate in December with a post on Truth Social: “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Savings Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Savings Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”
There’s a question on whether Trump meant exactly what he wrote. His post vows to end DST, yet most critics of clock-switching would rather eliminate standard time and regain an hour of winter-evening sunlight. Previously, Trump endorsed year-round daylight time.
While Trump didn’t clarify which side of the clock he’s on, his post may just mean that he wants to end clock-switching. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has endorsed abolishing daylight saving time.
Daylight saving time means later sunrises and sunsets resulting in more time for outdoor activities in the evenings.
Standard time means earlier sunrises and sunsets which proponents argue increases safety for school children in the morning and is better generally for human health.
In 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the “Sunshine Protection Act” with no debate, research or hearings. Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio tried to impose year-round daylight time on the country. It stalled in the House.
South Florida gets 10.5 hours of daylight even during the winter solstice.
The problem is darkness in the morning, especially in northern states where the sun rises later. Americans in northern latitudes would experience winter sunrises later than 9 a.m. in Minneapolis, Detroit, Seattle and Indianapolis.
The “new idea” of making DST permanent is actually an “old idea” tried during the 1970’s energy crisis and failed. Congress enacted permanent daylight-saving in December 1973, but it was so unpopular that it was repealed 10 months later.
Nevada began daylight saving time in 1964 when Gov. Grant Sawyer issued a proclamation matching California’s “fast time.” Sawyer, a Democrat, copied California daylight-saving propositions passed in 1949 and 1962.
Ending the clock-switching tradition has long been promoted in Nevada.
In 2015, Nevada Republican majorities in both legislative chambers adopted a joint resolution (AJR4) making daylight-saving permanent throughout Nevada. It was a resolution and not a law because states don’t have the power to observe daylight-saving all year.
In the 2021 legislative session, Senate Bill 153 would have mandated standard yearlong time, but only if California made the same change.
The bill failed.
One of the bill’s cosponsors was state Senate Minority Leader Robin Titus, R-Wellington, an Assemblymember at the time.
In the 2025 session, Sen. Titus is backing Assembly Bill 81 that would end DST in Nevada and switch the state to permanent standard time.
The measure, dubbed the “Lock the Clock” Act, is co-sponsored by Assemblymember Selena LaRue Hatch, D-Reno, and was heard in committee on Feb. 24. AB 81 would not tie the change to neighboring states or require permission from the federal government.
The current clock-switching system is a political and geographic compromise adopted to fit a sprawling nation.
E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.