(NEXSTAR) — The end of daylight saving time is fast approaching, and for some across the country, there’s hope that this will be the last time we change the clocks.
Whatever side of the “lock the clock” argument you stand on, we have some unfortunate news for you: Nov. 3 is most likely not the last time you’ll have to adjust your clock by an hour.
State and federal lawmakers have tried to put a permanent end to daylight saving time but with little progress (except for the times that we did, briefly, stop observing daylight saving time, only to return to it relatively quickly).
Twice a year, there are calls to end the practice and put the U.S. on either permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time.
Nearly every state has brought forth and even passed legislation or resolutions to end the biannual clock changes. In most cases, the states are hoping to stay on daylight saving time year-round, which means “springing forward” in March and not “falling back” in November. Unfortunately, states aren’t able to make that decision on their own.
Under U.S. law, states need permission from Congress to observe daylight saving time year-round. They can opt into permanent standard time, like Hawaii and most of Arizona have, but not permanent daylight saving time.
That hasn’t stopped states from passing legislation to, one day, be on permanent daylight saving time. In other cases, states have called on Congress to lock the clocks or give them that permission.
That includes Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Other states that have called for permanent daylight saving time in the latest legislative sessions, include Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. These bills have largely stalled. Similar bills in Mississippi and Nebraska died this year.
Some states have passed legislation asking for permanent daylight saving time if neighboring states would do the same. Among those is Delaware, which passed a bill in 2019 that would call on the U.S. Transportation Secretary to put the state in the Atlantic standard time zone (the equivalent of Eastern daylight time, or the time they observe between March and November) year-round, if Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland requested such a move. In nearby New Hampshire, a bill to put the state on permanent daylight saving time if its neighbors enact laws to do the same is scheduled for an executive session in mid-October.
Idaho and Illinois, have passed similar legislation, while Connecticut, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee have tried and failed to do so in recent years.
Not every state leans toward permanent daylight saving time. Earlier this year, lawmakers in Idaho introduced a bill to put the state on permanent standard time if two of its nearby states — Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, or California — did the same. That bill has stalled.
A bill to put New Hampshire on permanent standard time if Maine and Massachusetts did the same passed in the House while lawmakers in the Senate recommended it for an interim study. In Oregon, a bill putting the state on permanent standard time if California and Washington agreed passed through the Senate but lost momentum in the House, Nexstar’s KOIN reports. A similar bill in Connecticut stalled last year.
Recent bills in Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia call for their states to permanently observe standard time, but don’t rely on neighboring states to do the same. Those bills have stalled. Similar bills in Arkansas, Montana, New Mexico, and North Dakota have died in recent legislative sessions.
A bill to put Missouri on permanent standard time in November failed to pass this year. Various bills regarding daylight saving time have failed in the state in recent years, Nexstar’s KSNT reports. Efforts in Kansas have also faced the same fate.
In Maine, lawmakers declined to pass two bills during the recent legislation session. One would have put the state on permanent standard time while the other would have made daylight saving time the permanent setting.
A Michigan lawmaker told Nexstar’s WOOD he wanted to let voters decide whether the state should observe standard time permanently. That bill is stuck in committee. In California, where voters already gave lawmakers permission to amend the time zone of the state if Congress allows, a bill was introduced, calling for the near- and long-term impacts of year-round standard time to be reviewed.
While many states have handled legislation surrounding daylight saving time, there are others that have seemingly not been interested in the topic. Online records show the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin have not had any bills introduced on the topic since 2019.
Multiple bills introduced in Congress over the last year have stalled as well, so unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii, be prepared to fall back an hour in November.
