For more than a century, most of North America has endured the ubiquitous “spring forward, fall back” concept of daylight saving time. The upside for Sunday, Nov. 3 is that we gain an hour when “fall back” by setting clocks back one hour.
First observed in 1918, the rules for DST were not uniform causing confusion, especially in transportation and broadcast industries. We needed a law. (Listen for the sarcastic tone. It’s there.) The Uniform Time Act of 1966 specified clocks would be set ahead one hour on the last Sunday in April and one hour back on the last Sunday in October.
Then, in 2005, President Bush signed into law a broad energy bill that extended daylight saving time by four weeks beginning in 2007. As a result, daylight saving time begins three weeks earlier on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
In the United States, Arizona and Hawaii opt out of the time change, maintaining standard time year-round.
But it will take an act of Congress to allow states to adopt year-round daylight saving time. Four bills, including the Sunshine Protection Act, have been introduced to the current Congress. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, is the Sunshine Protection Act’s main sponsor. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, and three other senators cosponsor the bill. Contact Rubio and Scott to express your opinion about springing forward and falling back.
