The House of Representatives passed a 308 to 117 bill in the daylight saving time senate debate, voting to make year-round daylight saving time the default for much of the nation. The measure would end the twice-yearly clock changes in most states.
Rick Scott sponsored the bill in the Senate and defended it as a break from what he called an unnecessary routine. He said, "I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year — it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families," and added, "Even just an extra hour in the evening means more time to play with your kids."
Rick Scott and The Senate
The Senate will now consider Scott’s bill. If it advances, California and other states could opt out, while Hawaii and most of Arizona would be able to stay on permanent standard time.
The House vote has revived a debate that Congress already confronted in 1974. Winter daylight saving time was briefly enacted that year, and Congress returned to standard time later in 1974 after a House report said the change was generally popular but not in the winter months of November through February.
California and Los Angeles
The practical effect would be later winter sunrises in much of the country. Los Angeles would see its latest sunrise of the year at 8 a.m., Sacramento at 8:24 a.m., San Francisco at 8:25 a.m., and Crescent City at 8:44 a.m.
Farther east, Miami would have a latest sunrise of 8:09 a.m., Boston 8:13 a.m., Chicago and Houston 8:18 a.m., New York City 8:20 a.m., Philadelphia 8:23 a.m., Washington 8:27 a.m., Dallas 8:30 a.m., Atlanta 8:43 a.m., Minneapolis 8:51 a.m., Seattle 8:58 a.m., Detroit 9:02 a.m., and Bismarck and Glacier National Park in Montana 9:28 a.m.
Will the Senate
Under year-round daylight saving time, evening light would also stretch later in places that are already in the debate’s center. Los Angeles would see 5:44 p.m. sunsets shortly after Thanksgiving, San Francisco would have its earliest sunsets at 5:51 p.m. in late November and early December, and New York City would see its earliest sunset at 5:28 p.m. instead of 4:28 p.m. on standard time.
The open question is whether the Senate will advance the House-passed bill into law. For now, the House has already set the terms of the next fight: whether much of the nation should keep the clocks where they are all year.
