When does daylight saving time start?

WASHINGTON — In less than two weeks, clocks across America will return to daylight saving time.

The clock will “jump forward” one hour at 2 a.m. on March 12, deducting one hour of sleep for most people. Only on November 5, the first Sunday in November, do Americans fiddle with their watches again to “roll back” to standard time.

Although daylight saving time has been observed for over 50 years, many are wary of a two-year time shift. Last year, a federal bill sought to make DST permanent for all states, but never became law. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who led the project, said he plans to reintroduce it in 2023.

Daylight saving time officially begins on Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 am.

In addition to losing an hour of sleep, changing the time also means the difficult chore of manually setting the clock. Nowadays, most electronics change automatically, but some household appliances still require manual adjustment.

Despite over 50 years of compliance, many attempts have been made to change the practice.

Last spring, the Sunshine Protection Act was passed unanimously by the US Senate, but never became law. The relevant House bill was introduced, but died pending in the House, meaning that it would need to be re-introduced during the current Congress.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who introduced the original legislation, plans to resubmit the bill in 2023, according to VERIFY. If the law is passed, then daylight saving time will be permanent all year round.

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

The practice has been implemented in one form or another since World War I, when Germany originally introduced it to conserve electricity and energy by increasing daylight hours.

The Standard Time Act of 1918 was the first introduction of daylight saving time to American clocks. The temporary measure, once nicknamed “wartime”, was in effect from spring to autumn and was intended to cut electricity costs during World War I. The law is also responsible for the five time zones that are still in effect today.

In 1966, the Department of Transportation was created and given regulatory authority over time zones and daylight saving time. To correct the confusion and jet lag, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 required a nationwide standard for daylight saving time—from the last Sunday. in April until the last Sunday in October.

Since then there have been few changes. Most recently, DST was extended by a few weeks in 2005 when former President George W. Bush changed the law. It is now celebrated from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

Despite nationwide observance, Arizona and Hawaii do not observe daylight saving time. Under federal law, states are allowed to waive daylight saving time and stay on standard time, but they are not allowed to stay on daylight saving time.

Previously, the U.S. had implemented DST twice year-round: once during World War II to conserve fuel, and once in 1974 as a “test run” during the energy crisis.

While there is some confidence that DST reduces electricity consumption, traffic, and crime, two studies, one in 1975 and one in 2005 when DST was extended, found that most of the changes in energy consumption, traffic and crime was “statistically determined”. slightly.” A 2005 study found that each day of extended DST reduces the nation’s total electricity consumption by 0.5%.