For decades, lawmakers across the country and political spectrum have tried to rid the country of the biannual pesky time change without much luck. This session, new filings could land the time change issue on Texas voter ballots by November, after the time falls back.
By federal law, it is within a state’s rights to observe or not observe the daylight saving time change in the spring, but there’s a huge caveat to foregoing the adjustment. No state has the authority to remain on permanent daylight saving time without congressional approval. If voters in a state choose to end daylight saving time, the clocks will remain on standard time, shortening the amount of sunlight in the evenings. Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that do not change their clocks, instead accepting early darkness.
One bill from Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a Democrat from Laredo, would establish standard time as the norm.
"The twice-a-year clock change is disruptive and unnecessary," Zaffirini said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. "Studies have linked these shifts to increased traffic accidents, negative health effects, and decreased productivity."
A bill from Rep. Will Metcalfe, a Republican from Conroe, aims to establish daylight saving permanently, opting for more sunlight in the evenings but darker mornings. Metcalfe filed a similar bill in 2023, but it failed in the Senate. Congressional approval has proved to be a roadblock for other states, like Florida, in the past, but Metcalf is hoping this won’t be the case for Texas.
“Texas doesn’t need to wait for Washington,” Metcalf said in a news release. “By passing HB 1393, we’ll demonstrate leadership and send a strong message that Texans are ready to move forward.”
Rep. Mayes Middleton, a Republican from Galveston, doesn’t care which time is picked so long as he doesn’t have to remember to change the time on his oven anymore. Middleton filed two bills, one that would end the observance of daylight saving and another that would make the hour-ahead time the regular.
"This would just say 'look, we're not going to change our clocks anymore,'” Middleton said to CBS News. “That's the one thing everyone agrees on: please, please, we don't want to change our clocks anymore. I filed both bills because at the end of the day, what I really want to have happen, no more time change. I'm tired of the time change. Everybody's tired of the time change."
The bills from Zaffirini and Middleton would send the time change debate to voters in a November referendum. While most Texans agree changing the time is annoying, a study from Utilities Now found an even split on the popularity of standard time versus permanent daylight saving time.
The History of Daylight Saving
The time change has been screwing up circadian rhythms since it was first adopted in World War I as an effort to conserve energy. Many people seemingly hated it, especially farmers, and the law was repealed in seven months. But then the Second World War happened, and the time change system was reinstated and called “War Time.” After the war, some localities kept it up; others did not. The disarray of time zones was so bad that a Texan had to step in and sort things out. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, creating rules for states that observe the time change. The law mandated participating states to change their clocks at the same time, on the same day, by the same differential. It also stipulated that no state could adopt year-round daylight saving.
National Time Change
A bill to make daylight saving time permanent nationally, called the Sunshine Protection Act, has been filed and failed multiple times since 2018. In 2022, the bill unanimously passed the Senate, and President Donald Trump expressed his support, indicating he would sign it if it reached his desk, but it failed in the House. A similar bill has never passed the House, but nevertheless, the Sunshine Protection Act has been refiled for the 119th Congress. Trump, and arguably his top appointed adviser, Elon Musk, have been vocal about their distaste for the time change. Trump, a fan of executive orders, recently discussed a potential executive order establishing a national standard time while signing other executive orders.
"It's very much a fifty-fifty issue and it's something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way,” he said.
