Sponsors (2)
The bill clarifies and shifts authority over standard time to states and reduces federal statutory ambiguity, but that decentralization risks costly system changes, widespread schedule disruption, and inconsistent time observance across jurisdictions.
State and local governments gain clearer, standalone statutory authority to set standard time offsets or adopt permanent clock policies (removes an ambiguous federal cross-reference and the conflicting federal DST provision).
Federal agencies and cross-jurisdictional operations (e.g., DOT scheduling, interstate coordination) face less statutory ambiguity about standard time offsets, simplifying some interagency scheduling and regulatory interpretation.
Critical services and systems (airlines, broadcast schedules, computer networks, transit operations) may require costly reconfiguration and face heightened risk of scheduling errors during the transition.
Residents and businesses would face clock shifts relative to current civil time that could disrupt daily schedules, travel, commerce, and interregional communications.
Repealing the federal DST statute removes a national uniform framework for daylight saving time and could create legal uncertainty and inconsistent time observance across states and localities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Moves every federally listed U.S. standard time zone 30 minutes closer to UTC and repeals the statutory provision that governs the annual daylight saving clock advance.
Official title: To amend the Calder Act to permanently adjust American time, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 4, 2026 by W. Greg Steube · Last progress February 4, 2026
Changes U.S. standard time zone offsets by moving every listed zone 30 minutes closer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and makes the ninth zone UTC+10.5, and repeals the statutory provision that currently governs the annual clock advance for daylight saving time. The law and its amendments take effect 90 days after enactment. The measure only amends federal timekeeping statutes: it modifies the offsets in the Calder Act and repeals the provision in the Uniform Time Act that establishes the annual daylight-saving clock change and related state exemption language. No new spending or federal agencies are created.