Daylight Saving Time may be on its way to becoming permanent as the U.S. House of Representatives voted 308-117 in favor of the bill earlier this week.
The House voted to pass H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act, on Tuesday, designed to make daylight saving time permanent. The bill is headed next to the Senate for a vote before it becomes law. While proponents of the Sunshine Protection Act say it saves the inconvenience of having to “spring ahead” and “fall behind” each year, there were also those who say permanent daylight saving impacts health and safety.
Maryland, New York and New Jersey lawmakers were split on the proposed legislation. Maryland delegate Democrats Sarah Elfreth, Kweisi Mfume, April McClain Delaney, and Johnny Olszewski voted yes; no votes came from Republican Andy Harris and Democrats Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, and Glenn Ivey.
In New York, like New Jersey, both sides were split as well. Empire State Republican Nick Langworthy was among those who said it’s important to balance peoples’ lack of desire to set the clocks back and ahead with health and safety issues, according to CNN. Both New York and New Jersey have state-level daylight saving bills on deck.
The federal daylight saving bill heads to the senate for a vote before it becomes law.
Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, and congressman Vern Buchanan (FL-16) cheered the bill’s passage.
“Millions of Americans across the country have asked Congress to reevaluate the current system of changing our clocks twice a year,” Guthrie said. “Today’s bipartisan vote to ‘lock the clock’ is a response to the advocacy of our constituents and the evidence that year-round daylight saving time boosts economic activity and improves public safety.”
The time-change legislation was included as an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act, H.R. 7389, which passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee 48-1. Read more on the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act at GlassBytes.com.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is among those opposing permanent daylight saving time, saying that standard time is more closely aligned with the position of the sun and impacts health.
“Standard time is closely aligned with the position of the sun, which is important for the body as sunlight is the most powerful external cue for the human circadian rhythm,” the group said.