Daylight Saving Time isn’t going away any time soon

Every year, on the second Sunday in March at 2 a.m., clocks are set forward by one hour, to begin nearly eight months of Daylight Saving Time. Arizona is the only state in the continental U.S. that bucks the time switch ritual, staying on Mountain Standard Time year-round. 

This time-adjustment is discussed and debated every year. Numerous solutions have been proposed, including remaining on Standard Time year-round (which every state is eligible to do by the Uniform Time Act of 1966); sticking with Daylight Saving Time year-round (which states can do only with changes to federal law); or split the difference and adopt a year-round 30-minute shift (also requiring federal changes, which the recently proposed Daylight Saving Act of 2026 offers).

People are split on changing their time twice per year. Historically, people have preferred Daylight Saving Time, but many are now more ambivalent. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 only provided Standard Time as the default; if it had made Daylight Saving Time the default, our nation would likely be on Daylight Saving Time year-round, given the number of states with enacted or pending legislation making Daylight Saving Time permanent, subject to a variety of conditions.

Sleep researchers suggest that people would be healthier without bi-annual time changes, given their impact on circadian rhythms. Many sleep experts also endorse permanent Standard Time.

Many people forget that year-round Daylight Saving Time was implemented in 1974 and was terminated prematurely because people did not like it. The primary concern was school-age children going to school in the dark morning hours. Given how much society has changed over the past 50 years, with child safety a national priority, would the arguments of the 1970s still resonate today?

How about an executive order? Can the president just declare the end of Standard Time and enact permanent Daylight Saving Time? Given the stipulations outlined in the Uniform Time Act of 1966, any such executive order would be illegal. If President Trump were to issue an executive order, it would be incumbent on Congress to intervene. But given how much leeway Congress has given Trump, perhaps this is the most expeditious path; Congress could change the Uniform Time Act of 1966 consistent with his wishes.

If there are any lessons to be learned from the semi-annual time change ritual, it is that if something as benign as permanently ending Standard Time cannot be accomplished by lawmakers in Congress, then our legislative process is broken.  

There have been five versions of Sunshine Protection Acts proposed since 2018. All have been sponsored by lawmakers from Florida, a state that is minimally affected by the bi-annual time changes, given its southern position relative to the equator. However, co-sponsors have come from across the nation. 

There is risk in supporting any such legislation and deviating from the status quo, even if people are generally unhappy with it. If the change works out favorably, its very benign nature will give congressional supporters little political gain. If it works out poorly, anyone running against them in an election will use the issue to denigrate their legislative judgment. Moreover, in close races, where a few thousand votes can make the difference between winning and losing, politicians are typically risk-averse to support any legislation that can unseat them. 

The issue also has marginal political bias. Recent legislation has mostly been sponsored by Republicans, although several Democrats have been co-sponsors. Yet even with little political acrimony, no actions are ever taken that take the legislation to the finish line. This will also occur with the Daylight Act of 2026.

What all this means is that clocks will be changed this March and changed again on the first Sunday in November, likely in perpetuity. It will take a compelling reason for lawmakers to stick their necks out and enact a law that ends Standard Time once and for all. The risks are too great and the rewards too small.

Given the dysfunction that permeates Congress, and the stream of chaos that flows from the White House, there is probably no place on the legislative docket for updating the Uniform Time Act of 1966 — nor will there be any time soon.

Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a computer science professor in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As a data scientist, he uses his expertise in risk-based analytics to address issues impacting public policy.

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