Daylight vs. Standard Time. Pick One, Congress.

Clock-changing time is here again Sunday. Congress should end this disruptive biannual ritual

It’s time for our biannual ritual - moving the clocks forward this time - effective at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 13th. It was just four months ago that we drove them back. And with it, of course, will come our equally ritualistic grumbling or celebrations, depending on whose side you fall on this centuries-old debate unless you live in most of Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa. Under the Uniform Time Act, those jurisdictions have exempted themselves from Daylight Savings Time. Our trusty US Department of Transportation regulates the process.

It isn’t much of a debate anymore. According to an Economist/YouGov poll from last November, by an almost 2:1 margin, most Americans want 1) to end the practice of clock-changing and 2) prefer to permanently “spring forward” than “fall back.” That’s a change from just two years ago, which an Associated Press poll had Americans split three ways: about 40 percent in favor of standard time; 30 percent for daylight savings; and another 30 percent who love changing their clocks twice a year (who ARE those people?).

“At least some of Americans’ stated preference to eliminate changing times may stem from the inconvenience and abruptness of the transition between times, which they could feel more strongly when asked about it near clock-changing times,” YouGov said. Many Americans say they dread the forthcoming transition from Daylight Saving Time. Asked about its end this Saturday, 34% of Americans say that they are not looking forward to it, 21% say they are looking forward to it, and 38% say they don’t really care.”

The US House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection has the umpteenth hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday (EST), “Changing Times: Revisiting ‘Spring Forward’ and ‘Fall Back.’” They’re featuring a law professor, an expert in sleep neurology and pediatrics, and a lobbyist for the National Association of Convenience Stores.

All three will tell us things we already instinctively know.

The law professor will likely walk through the various times Congress has messed with our clocks, most often as war-time measures, such as World War I and enactment of the Calder Act. They instituted year-round DST in 1942, during World War II - “War Time” - and again during the 1973 energy crisis. Most recently, in 2005, Congress changed the calendar when DST is in effect (the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November - eight months.

And most states aren’t waiting for Congress to act, although it is Congress that ultimately must institute a national change. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures:

State legislatures continue to grapple with the vexing and multifaceted state policy questions regarding the biannual changing of the clocks. Most all of the states have considered legislation over the last several years that would place the state permanently on either standard time or daylight saving time. Since 2015, at least 350 bills and resolutions have been introduced in virtually every state, but none of significance passed until 2018, when Florida became the first state to enact legislation to permanently observe DST, pending amendment of federal law to permit such action.

In the last four years, 18 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to provide for year-round daylight saving time, if Congress were to allow such a change, and in some cases, if surrounding states enact the same legislation. Because federal law does not currently allow full-time DST, Congress would have to act before states could adopt changes.

The 18 states are Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana (2021). Idaho, Louisiana, Ohio (resolution), South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming (2020). Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington (2019). Florida (2018; California voters also authorized such a change that year, but legislative action is pending). Some states have commissioned studies on the topic including Massachusetts (2017) and Maine (2021).

Arizonans I know love not changing their clocks but are mildly annoyed at changing schedules for east coast or California phone calls, Zoom meetings, and travel.

Second, changing clocks is not good for our health. “Studies have found an increase in car accidents during the week following the change to daylight saving time and an increase in patient-safety related incidents associated with human error in the week following the transition into and out of daylight saving time,” according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Other adverse effects of the time change in the spring include increased risk of stroke and hospital admissions, and increased production of inflammatory markers, one of the body’s responses to stress.”

The AASM opposes Daylight Savings Time: “Conversely, another study found that in the fall, during the shift from daylight saving time back to standard time, there was a reduction in the rate of cardiovascular events, suggesting that the risk of heart attack may be elevated because of chronic effects of daylight saving time.”

It used to be worse in Indiana, where some counties in Chicago’s Central Time Zone orbit eschewed Daylight Savings Time while the rest of the state stuck with DST. For example, if you lived in LaPorte County - no DST at the time - one had to wake up at 4 a.m. for a one-hour drive for 7 a.m. breakfast in Elkhart, Indiana, which observed DST. Ugh. Indiana fixed that disparity by a single vote, so the entire state now observes DST.

But my least favorite day of the year when I was employed full time was the first workday after turning the clocks back in November. It was a depressing reminder of winter months ahead, and I hated driving home in the dark.

Third, changing clocks disrupt our economy in a variety of ways. Dairy farmers will be quick to tell you that cows don’t change their clocks. Some parents of young school-age children who catch buses to school will lament waiting in the early morning darkness. Others will cite energy savings, but various studies have produced mixed results.

But in his testimony on Wednesday, Lyle Beckwith of the National Association of Convenience Stores will testify in support of permanent DST. From his written testimony that is already public:

Our industry has consistently found that commerce increases when the nation moves to daylight saving time. When the clocks change in the spring, people feel as though they have more time after work to engage in a range of activities that increase commerce from eating out to shopping to participating, in or taking kids to, a variety of outdoor activities. The increases in economic activity that result can be dramatic. They consistently show increased spending when daylight hours are shifted later in the day through daylight saving. One study compared spending changes when daylight saving started and stopped in Los Angeles with spending in Phoenix, which does not observe daylight saving time. The result was clear increases in spending in Los Angeles when daylight saving started and losses of spending when it ended.2

The golf industry is one specific example. That industry estimated as early as the 1980s that an additional month of daylight saving time would mean hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to the industry.3 For the convenience industry specifically, 76.5% of sales come during the part of the year when we are on daylight saving time. That is a significantly higher percentage than the 65% of the year we spend using daylight saving time. Overall, this means about $5 billion of incremental sales for the industry attributable to the change to daylight saving time. Those are big numbers – particularly in an industry dominated by small businesses that operate with tight profit margins.

Lastly, and sadly, Congress will probably do nothing in the short term. It’s an election year, and there are bigger fish to fry.

But we’d all benefit if Congress would pick one - either Daylight or Standard Time - and make it uniform across the nation. As for me, I’m on Team Daylight Savings Time. I might even take up golf again.

Recommended reading: The History of Daylight Savings Times.