Hate time changes? Texas lawmakers have plans for daylight saving time
Will Texas lawmakers do anything about those time changes that come twice a year?
Texas and most other states engage in the biannual tradition of falling back or springing forward, which can be a pain to some as they change their clocks, losing or gaining an hour depending on the time of year.
Daylight saving time starts at 2 a.m. Sunday, when clocks move ahead one hour.
The time change is observed to help get the most out of daylight hours, but some have pushed for the time change to end, including U.S. senators who in March 2022 passed The Sunshine Protection Act. It would make daylight saving time permanent, which contrary to how it sounds, would end the time-changing practice.
As federal efforts pend, more than a dozen pieces of legislation related to daylight saving had been filed by lawmakers in Austin as of Thursday afternoon.
Some proposals would let voters decide whether they want Texas to follow daylight saving time year round or standard time year round. Others would have voters pick whether they want daylight saving time year round. Either way, Congress would first have to pass a federal law like The Sunshine Protection Act allowing permanent daylight saving time.
“For those who have asked for an end to changing our clocks twice a year, I filed a bill to let you vote on just that! You choose: daylight saving all year or standard time all year,” Rep. Vikki Goodwin, an Austin Republican, said in a January tweet, sharing a Fox 7 article about a bill she’s filed.
A bill by Laredo Democrat Rep. Judith Zaffirini, who has filed several bills related to the time change, would let voters decide whether to abolish daylight saving time. Others would make it permanent.
Several bills are typically filed by state lawmakers each session related to the time change, but there are many steps before a bill becomes a law and the legislation hasn’t gained much traction.
Daylight saving time started in World War I and states were allowed to keep it on a state-by-state basis after, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act established daylight saving across the country.
Hawaii and most of Arizona are the only states that don’t observe daylight saving time. Nineteen states have laws that would allow for year-round daylight saving time, were Congress to pass a bill permitting it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Staff Writer Megan Cardona contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 10, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
