Sponsors (11)
The bill hands time‑change authority to states and localities—reducing federally mandated clock shifts and giving local control—while creating the risk of a fragmented patchwork of time rules that can confuse travelers, complicate federal scheduling, and impose transition costs on businesses and governments.
State and local governments can choose year‑round or part‑year advanced time, giving communities local control over clock-change policy.
Residents and taxpayers would no longer be subject to a federal mandate to change clocks, which may reduce sleep disruption and daily schedule disturbances for people who prefer no clock shifts.
States that span multiple time zones gain flexibility to adopt uniform rules within a state or by time‑zone area, reducing intra‑state confusion where time zones already differ.
Travelers, interstate businesses, and transportation workers could face increased scheduling confusion and coordination problems if neighboring states or areas adopt different time rules.
Federal agencies and national transportation timetables may be complicated by a patchwork of state time rules, creating operational and scheduling friction until coordination occurs.
Local governments and businesses could incur one‑time transition costs (IT updates, scheduling and payroll changes), imposing expenses on taxpayers and employers in affected areas.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the federal mandate to advance clocks and lets states opt into year‑round or seasonal advanced time if the whole state or time‑zone area agrees.
Repeals the federal nationwide requirement to advance clocks for daylight saving time and lets states choose whether to observe an advanced standard time (year‑round or part‑year). States may adopt year‑round or seasonal advanced time only if the entire State or the entire area of the State within a time zone makes the same choice. Makes conforming changes to related Uniform Time Act cross‑references and sets the law to take effect the first Sunday of November after enactment.
Official title: To make standard time permanent except in States that elect to observe daylight saving time, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 9, 2026 by Mary Gay Scanlon · Last progress July 9, 2026