Earlier this month, Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, proposing an end to the bi-annual clock change that disrupts the lives of millions of Americans.
The Sunshine Protection Act passed unanimously in the Senate last year, but the bill stalled in the House. Sen. Rubio reintroduced the bill in the Senate on March 2 to try to end what he called an “antiquated practice.”
As Daylight Saving approaches again on Sunday, March, 12 at 2 a.m., it will bring an additional hour of daylight in the afternoon, but people will lose an hour of sleep when the clocks “spring forward.’ Time
Nations started switching between standard time in winter and daylight saving time in summer during the First World War, as they sought to cut energy costs—an extra hour of daylight in the evening meant less time with the lights on. Consumerism played an additional role, as Americans were more likely to shop if there was still light out when they left work. In the US and Europe, the practice caught on and persisted. But it’s facing more and more pushback.
Research has shown how moving the clocks forward and back, even by just one hour, negatively affects the economy, road safety, and health. Still, the US, Europe, and a few other nations are finding it hard to break the habit.
And once again, the lawmaker dubbed the “Sun King” is vowing that this can be the year that Congress ends the nation’s much-maligned, twice-yearly time changes.
From the Stanford Department of Neurobiology:
“Americans want more sunshine in the chilly, winter months, and Congress can deliver that to them,” said Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who got the Sun King nickname after hepassed legislation extending daylight saving time in 1985, and again in 2005. Now, Markey is one of the sponsors of a bipartisan bill that would allow states to lock in permanent daylight saving time, enabling them to “spring forward” one final time and never “fall back” again. The Democrat from Massachusetts acknowledged in an interview that the bill, known as the Sunshine Protection Act and spearheaded by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), faces an uphill battle in Congress this year — but he argues that persistence had changed the nation’s time code before and could do so again.
The Washington Post