The bill, dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, was on the radar for months after the Senate passed it, but it’s back in the spotlight this weekend as Americans prepare to turn their clocks back to standard time by March , demanding an hour of daylight away from winter mornings.
Lawmakers have just 17 legislative days left — the period known as the duck session — to pass the bill and send it to President Biden’s desk before the current Congress adjourns, forcing both chambers to reset the clock and reconsider the controversial change.
But the likelihood that lawmakers will push the bill over the finish line in the final stretch is shrinking.
“I wouldn’t expect it to happen this time,” Rep. Kewisi Mfume (D-Md.), who is in the process of co-sponsoring the bill, told The Hill. “My gut feeling is that a lot of other things will happen, depending on which party dominates the election.”
The Senate shocked the nation in March when the House unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act, a fast-track process that allows bills to pass if all members are on board and there are no objections. Buzzfeed News, however, reported that some senators were surprised to learn that the measure made it through the special process.
The legislation, which has bipartisan sponsorship in both chambers, would repeal the semiannual clock change and make daylight saving time the law of the land year-round.
According to current regulations, the sun is scheduled to rise in New York at 7:16 AM. on December 21, the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. But under the Sunshine Protection Act, New Yorkers would see the sun rise at 8:16 am. of that day.
The sunset would also be behind. Empire State residents are scheduled to see sunset at 4:31 p.m. on December 31. However, with the Sunshine Act, sunset will be pushed back to 5:31 p.m.
Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of abandoning the ritual of changing the clocks. A Monmouth University poll conducted in March found that 61 percent of respondents want to abolish the practice, while 31 percent favor keeping the status quo.
But there are disagreements about what the law of the land should be: daylight saving time or standard time. That, in part, is preventing the House from advancing the Sunshine Protection Act.
“We haven’t been able to find consensus in the House on this yet,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (DN.J.), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, in a statement to The Hill.
“There is a wide variety of views on whether we should keep the status quo, move to a permanent time, and if so, what time it should be. These views are not broken down by party, but instead by region,” he added.
Forty-four percent of respondents to the Monmouth University poll said they would prefer daylight saving time year-round, compared to 13 percent who prefer standard time.
“I have received calls from constituents who prefer permanent daylight saving time because they have safety concerns for children who have to wait long periods of time in the dark during the winter for the school bus, and I have heard from constituents and businesses who prefer permanent daylight saving time. they prefer longer daylight hours,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who chairs the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that held a hearing on daylight saving time in February, told The Hill in a statement.
A congressional aide working on the issue told The Hill that there are “so many different interests” in their views, making it more difficult to reach consensus.
The Orthodox Jewish community, for example, “want to make sure they are able to say their morning prayers and then be able to get to work in a reasonable time,” while some businesses “want to make sure their customers can enjoy in the evening hours in daylight on a patio,” said the aide, who requested anonymity to discuss the discussions.
“So it’s really all different interests,” the aide added. “They’re everyday people sharing what their quality of life would be depending on how this decision goes.”
“The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over time, continues to review and solicit input from Americans and stakeholders on permanent daylight saving time,” a spokeswoman for Rep. Kathy McMorris Rogers (Washington), the top Republican to the committee, The Hill said in a statement. “Leader Rogers hopes bipartisan work will continue.”
In the past half-decade, at least 19 states have passed legislation or passed resolutions that would make daylight saving time the norm year-round, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. These measures, however, cannot be enacted because federal law does not mandate permanent daylight saving time.
Hawaii and Arizona only observe standard time.
Last month, Mexico’s Senate voted to end daylight saving time for the majority of the country, ending the practice of changing the clocks twice a year. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is expected to sign the measure.
Pallone, however, is reluctant to make the switch hastily, despite her national and international support and campaigns from the longstanding lobbying effort — backed by business groups, including golf organizations. He pointed to the episode nearly 50 years ago when the US temporarily ended daylight saving time.
“We don’t want to make a hasty change and then reverse it several years later after public opinion turns against it — which is exactly what happened in the early 1970s,” the president said.
In 1974, former President Nixon signed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent for two years in an effort to combat natural gas shortages. The move, however, was so disliked by the public that nine months later, former President Ford introduced legislation that restored the twice-yearly tradition.
Nearly half a decade later, with the bill only passing one chamber, key lawmakers say the change will get another chance.
“We need a unified approach, I think, in my opinion, that’s why I support the bill to repeal it,” Mfume said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the sponsor of the Senate bill, called ending the clock-changing ritual “a matter of common sense.”
“States across the country are passing laws to make DST permanent, but Washington, DC must act. I don’t know why the House refuses to pass this bill — it seems like it’s rarely in session — but I’m going to keep pushing to make it happen,” he added, taking a dig at the other chamber.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), co-sponsor of the House bill, said the legislation is “low-hanging fruit for both sides.”
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“I think it’s a popular bill and I’m hoping for the lame duck session [the] The speaker will promote it,” he added.
What will become of the new status quo remains unknown. And the core players are well aware that no matter what the chamber decides, some people will be in for a frantic wake-up call.
“Half the country is going to be upset whichever way we go on this,” the aide said. “And so we’re really trying to reach consensus, but I can tell you that those conversations are still ongoing as we speak right now.”
