Sponsors (33)
The bill ends twice-yearly clock changes and keeps later evening daylight year-round (benefiting governments, workers, and recreation) but increases winter morning darkness with safety risks, risks to interstate coordination, and administrative costs for governments and employers.
State and local governments (and the public services they run) avoid twice-yearly clock changes, reducing scheduling disruptions for public services and operations.
Workers and schools in most areas keep later evening daylight year-round, which can reduce evening energy use and increase safe recreational daylight after work/school.
States that previously opted out can continue their prior time practice, avoiding forced schedule changes for residents in those states and preserving state choices.
Children, commuters, and other morning travelers will face darker winter mornings under permanent DST, increasing safety risks for pedestrians and vehicle traffic and making early school/work starts harder.
Interstate commerce, broadcasting, and transportation schedules could be disrupted as federal time definitions change, creating coordination problems for businesses and carriers.
Federal agencies, employers, and governments will incur administrative and IT costs to update systems, schedules, and regulations to match the new statutory time definitions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Replaces seasonal DST with permanent daylight saving time by shifting statutory U.S. time zones one hour closer to UTC and preserves prior opt-outs for some states/areas.
Makes daylight saving time permanent nationwide by changing the federal definitions of U.S. standard time zones so each zone is shifted one hour closer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), effectively adopting permanent DST. Preserves an existing exemption for states or areas that had legally chosen not to observe the DST advance immediately before enactment so they may remain on their prior time.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Vernon G. Buchanan · Last progress January 3, 2025