Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel
Daylight Saving Time: Could Congress OK it permanently next year?
By Steven Lemongello
If passed by Congress the U.S. would simply spring forward an hour in March one year and just stay there forever.
Could this have been the last fall that America set its clocks back?
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent has picked up three key co-sponsors in the past few weeks, including a member of Senate leadership.
That means seven senators, including two Democrats, are backing the Sunshine Protection Act, which would keep sunsets later in the day and prevent the sudden darkness Americans are still getting used to in the week after Daylight Saving ended.
If passed by Congress and signed by President Trump – who has tweeted his support – the U.S. would simply spring forward an hour in March one year and stay there forever.
“Now that it gets dark earlier in the nation’s capital, more senators are starting to see the light,” said Nick Iacovella, spokesman for Rubio, R-Florida.
Among the new backers are Republican U.S. Sens Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, who signed on this week, and Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, who announced his support last week.
Blunt is chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, Iacovella said, and “getting him as a co-sponsor and supporter of our bill increases the likelihood it will move.”
Hyde-Smith is from the same state as U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, where the bill is awaiting a hearing. The ranking Democrat on the committee, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, also is from the same state as another Sunshine Protection Act backer, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.
“It’s my hope that Sunday, Nov. 3, will be the last time that we have to do this ridiculous changing of the clocks back and forth,” Rubio said in a video message.
“It makes absolutely no sense, there’s no justification for it,” Rubio said. “It has strong support in the House and in the Senate, the White House [and] the president said he would sign it. I hope we can get this bill passed because I just think it makes all the sense in the world, and this changing of the clocks back and forth makes no sense at all.”
Any changes to Daylight Saving Time would still face opposition from groups worried about the hazards caused by increased darkness later in the morning, including the Florida Parent Teacher Association.
But the support coming from the Democratic House and White House means Rubio’s bill is not being split along the usual partisan lines.
In March, shortly after Rubio filed his bill, Trump tweeted, “Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!”
And in the House, not one but three similar bills have been filed.
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, filed a companion Sunshine Protection Act in March and has gained nine co-sponsors, including fellow Florida U.S. Reps. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee; Michael Waltz, R-St. Augustine Beach; Bill Posey, R-Rockledge; Greg Steube, R-Sarasota; Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar; and Francis Rooney, R-Naples.
Similar bills were also filed by Alabama Republican Mike Rogers and Utah Republican Rob Bishop, the latter of which has 13 co-sponsors including Soto, Posey and Miami Republican Mario Diaz-Balart and St. Petersburg Democrat Charlie Crist.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a fellow Florida Republican who backs Rubio’s plan, signed a bill as governor to move clocks forward permanently in just Florida alone. That measure, which would have needed congressional approval, was set aside to focus on the nationwide bill.
While Rubio’s bill and others would allow states and territories to opt out of Daylight Saving Time, it’s still unpopular in places that have never had it, including Arizona and Hawaii.
A proposal by Arizona state Sen. Phil Lovas to put his state on Daylight Saving Time in 2015 led to such backlash he withdrew it just three days later.