PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Not all states in the U.S. take part in Daylight Saving Time. Hawaii and Alaska don’t “fall back." Arizona hasn’t observed Daylight Saving Time for 40 years. Two Florida senators believe all of the United States should join those other two states and end what they call an “antiquated practice of clock changing.”
Florida Republican senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott introduced legislation in September that wouldn’t just keep Florida on Daylight Saving Time (DST) instead of “falling back” to Standard Time on Sunday, Nov. 1, but all of the United States. The bill would have prevented the time change and the U.S. would have stayed on DST until Nov. 7, 2021, which means that we wouldn’t have to “spring ahead” in March because we’d already be there. But it wasn’t enacted.
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The senators found it especially crucial this year because of the instability of American life because of COVID-19.
“As families across the nation prepare for yet another disruption to their daily routines this weekend, I want to remind Americans that we have another option — to stay on Daylight Saving Time,” Rubio said.
"7 in 10 Americans don’t want to change their clocks. I urge my colleagues to work with me to make this Sunday the last time our country ‘falls back’,” Rubio said.
“It has become clear this antiquated practice no longer serves any purpose,” Rubio wrote in a letter to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the key committee that needs to take up the bill.
The two senators said there are reasons for making DST permanent for the nation, including the reduction of robberies, according to a study by the Brookings Institution, benefits the economy, benefits the agricultural economy, reduces energy use, and it is detrimental to people with Alzheimer’s disease, who suffer from a syndrome called sundowners.
In March 2019, Rubio re-introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make DST permanent across the country, excluding Arizona and Hawaii. The bill reflects the Florida legislature’s 2018 enactment of year-round DST; however, for Florida’s change to apply, a change in the federal statute is required.
But for now, Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, Nov.1, 2020, at 2 a.m., so on Saturday evening, clocks need to “fall back” one hour.
As for your phone? Most smartphone clocks will automatically adjust. Just make sure the software is up to date.