On Sunday, March 10, Daylight Saving Time will begin at 2 a.m. local time in numerous states across the United States, however there are a couple of states that don’t follow the time change.
“Daylight Saving Time (“DST”) is the practice of moving the clocks forward one hour from Standard Time during the summer months and changing them back again in the fall,” Almanac.com states.
According to Almanac.com, Daylight Saving Time in the spring seeks to have people get more time using natural daylight, which is seen by moving clocks forward by one hour. In November, Daylight Saving Time ends, and Americans gain another hour by moving the clocks back.
However, Arizona and Hawaii do not follow Daylight Saving Time and instead operate on permanent standard time. The U.S. territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, also do not observe the time change.
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“Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time. Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time, with the exception of the Navajo Nation. Arizona previously observed Daylight Saving Time beginning in 1918, but made the permanent change to Standard time in 1968,” the Arizona State Library states.
AZ Central reported that another reason why Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time is because the state often experiences hot temperatures during the summer months and an additional hour of daylight would result in higher energy consumption for residents.
According to Time magazine, Hawaii did away with Daylight Saving Time in 1967, mainly because of the state’s location near the equator.
In 2022, Florida Senator Marco Rubio proposed the Sunshine Protection Act to make Daylight Saving Time permanent throughout the U.S. The bill was passed in the Senate, but currently remains stalled in the House of Representatives.
Ahead of clocks springing forward on Sunday, Rubio renewed his push for the proposed legislation and said, “We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there have been over 600 proposed bills and amendments across different states that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent if a federal bill was passed.
“In the last five years, 19 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,” the National Conference of State Legislatures states. “Because federal law does not currently allow full-time DST, Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.