Tout Health and Productivity Benefits to Making Change Permanent
Follows Florida’s 2018 Enactment of Year-Round Daylight Saving Time
WASHINGTON — As Americans prepare to turn their clocks forward an hour this Sunday, Congressman Vern Buchanan and Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) renewed calls to pass their bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent and end the twice-a-year clock change that takes place every March and November.
“There are tremendous health, economic and productivity benefits to making daylight saving time permanent,” said Buchanan. “It’s clear that Americans want to do away with changing their clocks twice a year, and my bill will end this outdated practice. Just recently, we’ve had very promising conversations with House leadership, Energy and Commerce committee members and administration officials about holding hearings and acting on my bill this Congress. Florida lawmakers have already voted to make daylight saving time permanent, and Congress should pass the Sunshine Protection Act to move Florida and the rest of the country to year-round daylight saving time”
“Americans are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year – it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than a benefit to them,” said Sen. Rick Scott. “President Trump and the American people are on board with locking the clock, and now it’s time we pass the Sunshine Protection Act to make daylight saving time permanent. Let’s give families in Florida and across the nation the much-needed benefit of more sunshine and make this ‘spring forward’ the last one!”
In Florida, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation in 2018 to become the first state in the nation to adopt permanent DST. Across the U.S., 20 states have since enacted legislation or passed similar resolutions.
Research demonstrates that permanent daylight saving time has health, safety and productivity benefits. Studies in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and the Journal of Physical Activity and Health show that during the extra hour of daylight, children experience an increase in physical activity. Researchers with the Brookings Institution found that robbery rates drop by 27 percent during the extra hour of daylight and that the four week extension of DST in 2007 saved $59 million per year in avoided social costs by reducing evening robberies. Recent research also found that “springing forward” in the spring can negatively affect worker productivity for up to two weeks.
Buchanan’s bill is cosponsored by 20 members of Congress, including Reps. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Mike Ezell (R-Miss.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.), Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.), Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), Cory Mills (R-Fla.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), John Rutherford (R-Fla.), María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Dale Strong (R-Ala.) and Dan Webster (R-Fla.).
Sen. Scott’s Senate companion legislation is cosponsored by 17 members of the Senate, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (R-Ore.).
President Trump has also consistently said that he wants to end the twice-annual clock change.
