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Update, 10/31/26: The Senate has not brought the “Sunshine Protection Act” to the floor for a vote, so don’t forget to fall back from 2AM to 1AM Sunday morning!
Now that we’re entering Standard Time, perhaps Congress will instead move to lock the clock on nature’s time?
Fun fact: Did you know that part of an East Coast state will have the same time as part of a West Coast state tomorrow morning?
At 2AM (CDT), Pensacola and the rest of Florida’s panhandle will fall back to 1AM (CST), and at the same time, it will also be 1AM (MDT) in Malheur County, Oregon!
Update, 7/14/26: The House has passed the so-called “Sunshine Protection Act,” which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, by an overwhelming 308-117 vote.
I have been updating this post since 2019, when I first warned about the effects of a potential change, but there’s a real possibility this will now go into effect. President Trump has already promised to sign this into law if it is passed by the Senate.
Year-round DST was tried in 1974, before being rolled back after a massive public backlash. It will remain to be seen if history will repeat itself.
As discussed below in 2019, this change would have profound knock-on effects for Orthodox Judaism, in addition to common concerns about standard time’s circadian rhythm benefits and schoolchildren waiting for the bus in the dark in the winter.
Sunrise would be as late as 8:18AM in Chicago, 8:20AM in NYC, 8:30AM in Dallas, 8:43AM in Atlanta, 8:53AM in Cleveland, 8:57AM in Seattle, 8:58AM in Cincinnati, and 9:01AM in Detroit.
States will have a one-time chance to opt into permanent Standard Time before permanent Daylight Saving time goes into effect.
If we really wanted to fix the clocks in place and can’t agree on permanent standard time, wouldn’t a compromise to shift 30 minutes and split the difference make the most sense?
Update, 5/21/26: President Trump just posted that he will “work very hard” to sign into law to eliminate standard time and clock changes in favor of year-round DST.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 21, 2026
Update, 3/6/25: Despite increasing momentum for eliminating the twice-annual changing of the clocks, President Trump says that the issue is too evenly split between permanent standard time and permanent daylight time, so he’s going to focus on issues with more popular support.
POTUS on Daylight Savings: "It's a 50/50 issue and if something is a 50/50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it. I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the… pic.twitter.com/ytn6C0AMRS
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 6, 2025
In an unscientific poll from Elon Musk with options that were rather poorly worded, some 58% of respondents said they would prefer permanent daylight saving time:
If daylight savings time change is canceled, do you prefer
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2025
Don’t forget to spring forward and change your clocks from 2am to 3am this Sunday!
Update, 11/4/23: Don’t forget to fall back tonight!
Update, 11/5/22: The House has declined to take up legislation on this, so don’t forget to fall back tonight!
Update, 3/15/22: The US Senate has unanimously passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent starting in 2023. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, and if it passes there, to President Biden to sign into law.
A move to permanent DST would have a profound effect on when religious Jews can pray in the morning, as described below. It would also mean that kids will be waiting for their bus in the dark during much of the school year.
Do you support such a change?
Rabbi Dovid Heber (who along with Rabbi Shmuel Lesches were very helpful figuring out zmanim and Shabbos questions on the DansDeals cruise to Antarctica) spoke yesterday about some of the DST zmanim issues that I wrote about below in 2019:
Update, 3/13/21: Don’t forget to spring forward tonight!
Senator Rubio and others senators are leading a bipartisan effort to make DST permanent across the country:
Soon we will have to comply with the senseless twice a year “time change”.
We need to pass my bill to make daylight savings permanent.
More daylight in the evenings results in fewer car accidents & robberies. And it allows kids to play outside longer.#LockTheClock
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 10, 2021
Originally posted on 3/12/2019:
On 11/18/1883 the United States adopted 4 times zones. Until that point every city had their own local time zone based on when sun was overhead at noon, but that system became untenable as trains had to set schedules incorporating hundreds of local times zones.
On 3/19/1918 the United States copied Germany in moving to a daylight saving system by moving the clocks forward an hour in the summer and backward in the fall. It was not used in all places at all times and didn’t become the federal standard until 1967.
Currently, 48 states go through the rigmarole of changing the clocks twice a year. Arizona and Hawaii use standard time year-round.
As a parent, I despise changing the clocks. When we “fall backward” the kids wake up an hour earlier and when we “spring forward” the kids won’t fall asleep on time and have trouble waking up on time for the bus to school.
But should the system be fixed?
Dozens of states have proposals to change to year-round daylight saving time or year-round standard time.
- CA, FL, OR, and WA are trying to move to year-round daylight saving time. However the federal government currently only allows states to have year-round standard time, not year-round daylight saving time.
- KS, OK, and TX are trying to move to year-round standard time.
- CT, MA, ME, NH, and RI want to move from the Eastern time zone to the Atlantic time zone, which is 1 hour ahead. They also want to move to year-round standard time. That move would effectively give them year-round daylight saving time compared to what they have now.
Marco Rubio and Vern Buchanan introduced bills into the Senate and the House to move the entire country to year-round daylight saving time.
Among other issues, permanent daylight saving time would mean that my own kids would be waiting for the bus in the pitch black during the winter months, creating a potentially dangerous situation. The National PTA is opposed to daylight saving time during the winter months for that reason.
For example:
- In NYC, sunrise on January 5 would go from 7:20AM to 8:20AM.
- In Cleveland, sunrise on January 5 would go from 7:53AM to 8:53AM.
- In Detroit, sunrise on January 5 would go from 8:01AM to 9:01AM.
However, permanent daylight saving time would also mean that there is less crime, which typically takes place after nightfall.
Many of the original reasons, such as energy savings, no longer apply today. What is known is that heart attacks and other health issues are more common after we “spring forward,” so there is solid logic to eliminating time changes.
Time changes also have some unique factors for religious Jews.
Permanent daylight saving time would mean the earliest time to daven the morning prayers would be quite late, which would cause serious problems for those who want to daven with a minyan and then go to work.
- In NYC the earliest time for Talis and Tefilin on January 5 would go from 6:26AM to 7:26AM, with sunrise at 8:20AM.
- In Cleveland the earliest time for Talis and Tefilin on January 5 would go from 6:58AM to 7:58AM, with sunrise at 8:53AM.
- In Detroit the earliest time for Talis and Tefilin on January 5 would go from 7:06AM to 8:06AM, with sunrise at 9:01AM.
But permanent daylight saving time would also mean not having to rush home as early on Fridays in December to make it on time for Shabbos, though it would also mean longer winter fast days.
- In NYC the earliest time for sunset in December would go from 4:28PM to 5:28PM
- In Cleveland the earliest time for sunset in December would go from 4:56PM to 5:56PM
- In Detroit the earliest time for sunset in December would go from 5:00PM to 6:00PM
Permanent standard time robs people of long summer evenings, but on the other hand it would mean the end of the super late Friday night Shabbos dinner and long summer fast days.
- In NYC the latest time for sunset in June would go from 8:31PM to 7:31PM
- In Cleveland the latest time for sunset in June would go from 9:04PM to 8:04PM
- In Detroit the latest time for sunset in June would go from 9:13PM to 8:13PM
That’s a whole lot to unpack and it also shows that there actually may be an advantage for religious Jews to the craziness of twice yearly clock changes.
The Forward reports that Agudath Israel of Florida lobbied against Florida trying to adopt permanent daylight saving time. Florida wound up passing that bill, though they are still awaiting permission from the federal government to implement the change.
Besides, when will you change the batteries on your smoke alarm and check if you have any miles expiring if not for the time change 😉
There are certainly pros and cons for any of the options and we may well wind up with states that observe permanent standard time, states that observe permanent daylight saving time, and states that change the clocks twice a year.
Which side of the debate are you on? Would you spring forward and not fall back, fall back and not spring forward, or leave things the way they are?
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