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The US House of Representatives recently passed the Sunshine Protection Act, marking this as the first step towards making the biannual clock change a thing of the past.
If the bill becomes a law, the US would not switch back to standard time in the fall and instead, clocks would stay an hour ahead for 12 months of the year.
Many people have shared that they are in favor of the change for reasons including the fact that it will reduce sleep disruption associated with the clocks changing, and offer more daylight in the evening for free time after work.
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However, not everyone is as keen for the switch-up, with some arguing that in the winter, the sun won’t rise until after 9am in some states, and darker mornings could also mean a less safe commute to work and school.
For many states, winter means the sun setting around 4pm, but if daylight saving time wasn’t pushed back, it could mean that sunset wouldn’t happen until after 5pm.
However, this would mean sacrificing the sun in the morning as for many states, including the likes of Alaska, Indiana, and Michigan, the sun won’t rise until after 9am.
For almost all of the states who currently have daylight saving time changes, it will mean a post-5pm sunset - except for Alaska, whose sun will set around 4.40pm.
However, just because the bill has been passed by the House of Representatives doesn’t mean that it’s a done deal.
The bill will now head to the Senate where it will also need to be passed before going to the president. Only once signed by the president would the bill become US law.
This isn’t the first time that the US government has attempted to make this law a reality as, back in 2022, a similar version of the bill was passed by the Senate but it was never voted on by the House of Representatives.
Back in 1974, the US actually attempted the concept of introducing a year-round daylight saving time but it ultimately didn’t work out due to people complaining about the dark winter mornings. The ended up with Congress repealing the act.
President Donald Trump has shown his support for the change on social media, writing on his own platform Truth Social: “This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks. Many of these Clocks are located in Towers, and the cost of renting, or using, Heavy Equipment to do this twice a year is prohibitive!”
