Daylight saving time is coming. What to know about the time change
When does daylight saving time begin? Americans are all set to lose an hour of sleep and "spring forward" starting 2 a.m. Sunday, March 9.
Clocks will adjusted forward by one hour, with many devices, such as computers and smartphones, making the change automatically. Unless you have smart appliances, microwaves and ovens are among the household items that will need a manual adjustment.
Read on to learn more about daylight saving time (DST).
Daylight saving time became a national standard in 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, which was established as a way to continue to conserve energy. The thinking was if it's light out longer, that's less time you'll need to use the lights in your house.
In 2005, Congress amended the act to expand daylight saving time to the period in effect today: Starting on the second Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November. This move was also for energy saving purposes.
DST will end Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025— clocks will "fall back" and we gain an hour of sleep.
Because of its desert climate, Arizona doesn't follow daylight saving time (with the exception of the Navajo Nation, which is located in parts of Utah and New Mexico as well as Arizona). After most of the U.S. adopted the Uniform Time Act, Arizona figured that there wasn't a good reason to adjust clocks to make sunset occur an hour later during the hottest months of the year.
Hawaii is the other state that does not observe DST. Because of its proximity to the equator, there is not much variance between hours of daylight during the year.
These five U.S. territories do not participate:
American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
President Donald Trump wants to end daylight saving time in favor of having one time year round, calling DST "inconvenient and very costly to our Nation." Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) reintroduced the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act in January to make that happen. According to Congress.gov, the act was introduced in the House on Jan. 3 and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that same day.
A previous Sunshine Protection Act was unanimously approved by the Senate in 2022, but not in the House, and was not signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. Another version of the act, was introduced in the House in 2023, then referred to the Energy and Commerce Committee, with that committee discharged from considering the bill in November 2024.
The latest: Trump wants to end daylight saving time, the biannual clock change. It's been done before
If Congress approves the Sunshine Protection Act, 19 states will move forward with previously enacted legislation or resolutions to end bi-annual clock changes. In some cases, there are states who will do the same should the states around them do so.
Under the Uniform Time Act, states can exempt themselves from observing daylight saving time; however, if a state chooses to observe DST, it must begin and end on federally mandated dates.
In New York, a proposal exists to establish a task force to study the effects of the Empire State opting out of daylight saving time. As of Feb. 28, the proposal is still in with the state Senate finance committee.
Former president Richard Nixon once signed a bill that went into effect in January 1974— which made daylight saving time permanent for two years.
The public was initially in favor of it, happy to not change clocks twice a year. But sunrises as late as 9:30 a.m. quickly dissuaded the public, and daylight saving time was reintroduced in October 1974.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: When does daylight saving time start? Here's what to know
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