Daylight saving time will start soon. Here’s when watches will “leap forward” in 2023

While daylight saving time has been observed for more than 50 years, many fear the biannual time change.

WASHINGTON – In just over two weeks, clocks across America will return to daylight saving time.

Clocks will “jump forward” one hour to 2 a.m. on March 12, subtracting one hour of sleep for most people. It won’t be until November 5, the first Sunday in November, when Americans will again play with their clocks to “go back” to standard time.

While daylight saving time has been observed for over 50 years, many fear the bi-annual time change. A federal bill last year sought to make DST permanent for all states, but it never became law. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who led the effort, said he plans to reintroduce it in 2023.

When does daylight saving time start?

Daylight saving time officially begins on Sunday, March 12 at 2am

In addition to missing an hour of sleep, changing the time also means the daunting task of manually changing clocks. Most electronics these days switch automatically, but some appliances still need manual adjustment.

Did the US make daylight saving time permanent?

Despite more than 50 years of observance, there have been many efforts to change the practice.

Last spring, the Sunshine Protection Act was passed unanimously by the US Senate, but it never became law. A matching bill was introduced in the House, but it is dead pending House review, meaning it should be reintroduced during the current Congress.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who introduced the original legislation, plans to reintroduce the bill in 2023, according to VERIFY. If passed as law, the legislation would make daylight saving time permanent year-round.

Congress is the only one who can change the DST observance period. Since 2015, at least 45 states have proposed bills to change their DST observance, according to the Congressional Research Service.

When did daylight saving time start?

The practice has been implemented in some form since World War I, when Germany originally introduced it to conserve energy and energy by extending daylight hours.

The Standard Time Act of 1918 was the first introduction of daylight saving time in American clocks. The temporary measure, which once held the nickname “wartime”, lasted from spring to autumn and was intended to reduce energy costs during the First World War. The act is also responsible for the five time zones still in effect today.

The Department of Transportation was created and given regulatory power over time zones and daylight saving time in April 1966. through the last Sunday in October.

Few changes have taken place since then. Most recently, DST was extended by a few weeks in 2005 when former President George Bush changed the law. It is now observed from the second Sunday of March until the first Sunday of November.

Despite national observance, Arizona and Hawaii do not observe daylight saving time. Under federal law, states can opt out of daylight saving time and stay in standard time, but they cannot stay in daylight saving time.

The United States has already implemented year-round DST twice: once during World War II to save fuel, and once in 1974 as a “test run” during an energy crisis.

While there is some belief that DST reduces electricity consumption, traffic and crime, two studies, one performed in 1975 and one in 2005, when DST was extended, revealed that a large proportion of changes in energy use, traffic and crime were “statistically insignificant.” The 2005 study found that each day of DST extension reduced total national electricity consumption by 0.5%.

Content Source