By Jeff Crouere ——Bio and Archives--March 10, 2024
Cover Story | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
Twice a year, Americans must change their clocks to adjust to standard or daylight-saving time. It is particularly painful in March to lose a precious hour of sleep, but the benefit is more sunlight in the evening hours.
To address this craziness, on Friday, U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced S.582, the “Sunshine Protection Act,” to make daylight-saving time permanent. In 2022, this bill to “lock the clock” passed the Senate but was stymied in the House of Representatives.
Rubio said the legislation would “end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth.” According to Markey, “The antiquated biannual ritual of toggling between times isn’t just an inconvenience – it also has very real impacts on our economy, our energy consumption, and our health.”
A companion piece of legislation was also introduced in the House by U.S. Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL). He called the bi-annual clock adjustment “inconvenient,” “entirely unnecessary” and an “antiquated practice.”
Since 2015, 30 states have attempted to end the aggravating practice of clock changing. In 2022, Colorado passed a law allowing permanent daylight-saving time, but only if federal legislation allowed such a change.
How did this aggravating practice of changing our clocks every few months get started? During World War I, over one hundred years ago, it was created as a way for the United States to save power and fuel and enhance the economy by spurring consumer shopping in the evening.
The practice was halted after World War I but was started again during World War II. The clock changing ritual became law in 1966 after the passage of........