Is Texas staying on daylight saving time? There's only one way for law to take effect
There has been debate for years among Texans and state legislators about whether the Lone Star State should adopt daylight saving time permanently.
House Bill 1393, also known as "Texas Time," could bring an end to that discussion.
Will Texans have more sunlight year-round? Here's what to know about the bill.
The idea dates back to World War I, although some credit Benjamin Franklin for daylight saving time due to a satirical letter he wrote in 1784 stating: "Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing: and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street to wake the sluggards effectually."
To maximize resources for the war, Germany and Austria implemented the first daylight saving time in 1916. The U.S. did the same in 1918. It's an outdated idea, some argue.
House Bill 1393, referred to as the 'Texas Time" bill, aims to eliminate biannual clock changes and keep Texas on daylight saving time year-round. The bill has successfully passed through the Texas legislature and is now awaiting Governor Greg Abbott's signature. The bill, however, can't take effect unless Congress changes federal law to allow states to adopt daylight saving time permanently.
Supporters argue that maintaining a consistent time year-round would reduce confusion, improve safety, and enhance productivity.
Opponents of permanent daylight saving time cite health and safety concerns, often arguing that maintaining standard time year-round would be the better choice.
Under the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966, states may not currently adopt permanent daylight saving time, but they can opt out of time changes by sticking with standard time year-round. That's how states like Arizona and Hawaii can keep from changing their clocks twice a year.
Texas joins 18 other states that have passed similar permanent daylight saving time measures, and there's interest at the federal level in allowing the change.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Is Texas staying on daylight saving time permanently? It's complicated
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's Budget for NASA Is Absolutely Horrifying
Earlier this year, the Trump administration revealed its proposed budget for NASA's fiscal year 2026, indicating brutal cuts of unprecedented proportions are coming. Now, the agency has released new data about the proposal, painting a dire picture of its future. As SpaceNews reports, the documents reveal that thousands of jobs would be cut, and dozens of science missions would be on the chopping block. The cuts — which would drag the budget to its lowest point since 1961, SpaceNews points out, when adjusted for inflation — would result in the firing of roughly one-third of all civil servants. The budget would also slash the space agency's science budget in almost half, "nothing short of an extinction-level event for space science and exploration in the United States," as Planetary Society chief of space policy Casey Dreier told Ars Technica in March. The extent of the proposed cuts is truly baffling, with the Trump administration basically looking to give up on space science altogether in favor of militarizing the Earth's orbit and sending humans to Mars. The so-called "skinny" budget would result in the cancellation of several key space exploration missions, including NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Other Earth observation programs would also be ripped up, including missions to monitor the planet's gravity field or study tropical cyclones, per SpaceNews. The budget would also cancel planned missions to explore the surface of Mars, as well as existing operations such as OSIRIS-APEX, which is headed to an asteroid called Apophis. While NASA's next major landmark space observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, wouldn't be entirely canceled, it would be allocated less than half of its previously outlined budget. Meanwhile, the space agency would be doubling down on establishing commercially funded ways to get to the Moon and Mars, highlighting the Trump administration's sometimes-cozy relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose space company is bound to reap the benefits. The budget would clear up north of $1 billion for projects connected to sending humans to the Red Planet, indicating the president is willing to closely follow Musk's lead. The proposed 2026 fiscal year budget is now headed to Congress, where it's likely to meet ample opposition. "No one is eager to cut NASA science," Dreier told SpaceNews. "No one is out there openly defending and saying that this is a great idea." In short, if it were to make it through Congress unaltered — which is unlikely, since the agency is supported by many lawmakers — Trump's NASA budget could deal the country's leadership in space an existential blow, allowing adversaries, most notably China, to race ahead. "It sends a signal that America is stepping back from leadership in virtually every science area, including NASA," former NASA associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld told PBS. "The proposal for the NASA science budget is, in fact, cataclysmic for US leadership in science." "What we see is a full-scale assault on science in America," representative George Whitesides (D-CA) added. "It is probably the biggest attack on our scientific establishment in history." "It's a poorly wielded chainsaw," he added. More on NASA's budget: NASA Disgusted by Elon Musk's Disrespect
Boston Globe
32 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Newark mayor sues New Jersey's top federal prosecutor after arrest at immigration detention site
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Emails seeking comment were left Tuesday with Habba's office and the Homeland Security Department, where Patel works. Advertisement The episode outside the Delaney Hall federal immigration detention center has had dramatic fallout. It began on May 9 when Baraka tried to join three Democratic members of Congress — Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman — who went to the facility for an oversight tour, something authorized under federal law. Baraka, an outspoken critic of Trump's immigration crackdown and the detention center, was denied entry. Video from the event showed him walking from the facility side of the fence to the street side, where other people had been protesting, and then uniformed officials came to arrest him. As they did, people could be heard in the video saying to protect the mayor. The video shows a crowd forming and pushing as officials led off a handcuffed Baraka. Advertisement He was initially charged with trespass, but Habba dropped that charge and charged McIver with two counts of assaulting officers stemming from her role in the skirmish at the facility's gate. McIver decried the charges and signaled she plans to fight them. A preliminary hearing is scheduled later this month. Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed facility, opened earlier this year as a federal immigration detention facility. Florida-based Geo Group Inc., which owns and operates the property, was awarded a 15-year contract valued at $1 billion in February. The announcement was part of the president's plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year. Baraka sued Geo soon after that deal was announced. Then, on May 23, the Trump Justice Department filed a suit against Newark and three other New Jersey cities over their so-called sanctuary policies. There is no legal definition for sanctuary city policies, but they generally limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers. New Jersey's attorney general has a statewide directive in place prohibiting local police from collaborating in federal civil immigration matters. The policies are aimed at barring cooperation on civil enforcement matters, not at blocking cooperation on criminal matters. They specifically carve out exceptions for when Immigration and Customs Enforcement supplies police with a judicial criminal warrant. The Justice Department said, though, the cities won't notify ICE when they've made criminal arrests, according to the suit. It's unclear whether Baraka's role in these fights with the Trump administration is having an effect on his campaign for governor. He's one of six candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the June 10 election to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Advertisement In a video ad in the election's final weeks, Baraka has embraced a theme his rivals are also pushing: affordability. He says he'll cut taxes. While some of the images show him standing in front of what appears to be Delaney Hall, he doesn't mention immigration or the arrest specifically, saying: 'I'll keep Trump out of your homes and out of your lives.' Trump has endorsed Jack Ciattarelli, one of several Republicans running in the gubernatorial primary. Ciattarelli has said if he's elected, his first executive order would be to end any sanctuary policies for immigrants in the country illegally.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Newark mayor sues federal prosecutor after arrest at immigration detention site
Newark mayor Ras Baraka has sued New Jersey's top federal prosecutor over his arrest on a trespassing charge, which was later dropped, at a federal immigration detention facility. Mr Baraka, who leads New Jersey's biggest city, is a candidate in a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination for governor next Tuesday. The lawsuit against interim US Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba coincided with the day early in-person voting began. The lawsuit seeks damages for 'false arrest and malicious prosecution', and also accuses Ms Habba of defamation for comments she made about his case. Citing a post on X in which Ms Habba said Mr Baraka 'committed trespass', the lawsuit says Ms Habba issued a 'defamatory statement' and authorised his 'false arrest' despite 'clear evidence that Mayor Baraka had not committed the petty offence of 'defiant trespass'.' The suit also names Ricky Patel, the Homeland Security Investigations agent in charge in Newark. Emails seeking comment were left with Ms Habba's office and the Homeland Security Department, where Mr Patel works. The episode outside the Delaney Hall federal immigration detention centre has had dramatic fallout. It began on May 9 when Mr Baraka tried to join three Democratic members of Congress — Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman — who went to the facility for an oversight tour, something authorised under federal law. Mr Baraka, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and the detention centre, was denied entry. Video from the event showed him walking from the facility side of the fence to the street side, where other people had been protesting, and then uniformed officials came to arrest him. As they did, people could be heard in the video saying to protect the mayor. The video shows a crowd forming and pushing as officials led off a handcuffed Baraka. He was initially charged with trespass, but Ms Habba dropped that charge and charged Ms McIver with two counts of assaulting officers stemming from her role in the skirmish at the facility's gate. Ms McIver decried the charges and signalled she plans to fight them. A preliminary hearing is scheduled later this month. Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed facility, opened earlier this year as a federal immigration detention facility. Florida-based Geo Group Inc, which owns and operates the property, was awarded a 15-year contract valued at one billion dollars in February. The announcement was part of the president's plans to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from a budget of about 41,000 beds this year. Mr Baraka sued Geo soon after that deal was announced. Then, on May 23, the Trump Justice Department filed a suit against Newark and three other New Jersey cities over their so-called sanctuary policies. There is no legal definition for sanctuary city policies, but they generally limit co-operation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers. New Jersey's attorney general has a statewide directive in place prohibiting local police from collaborating in federal civil immigration matters. The policies are aimed at barring co-operation on civil enforcement matters, not at blocking cooperation on criminal matters. They specifically carve out exceptions for when Immigration and Customs Enforcement supplies police with a judicial criminal warrant. The Justice Department said, though, the cities will not notify ICE when they have made criminal arrests, according to the suit. It is unclear whether Mr Baraka's role in these fights with the Trump administration is having an effect on his campaign for governor. He is one of six candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the June 10 election to succeed term-limited Democratic governor Phil Murphy. In a video ad in the election's final weeks, Mr Baraka has embraced a theme his rivals are also pushing: affordability. He says he will cut taxes. While some of the images show him standing in front of what appears to be Delaney Hall, he does not mention immigration or the arrest specifically, saying: 'I'll keep Trump out of your homes and out of your lives.' Mr Trump has endorsed Jack Ciattarelli, one of several Republicans running in the gubernatorial primary. Mr Ciattarelli has said if he is elected, his first executive order would be to end any sanctuary policies for immigrants in the country illegally.
