Copyright Newsweek
Clocks will "fall back" on November 2 at 2 a.m. local time, marking the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) for 2025. But 19 states have already passed legislation to make DST permanent—they're just waiting for Congress to give them the green light. The push for year-round DST hit a roadblock on October 28 when Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, opposed efforts to fast-track a federal bill that would eliminate the twice-yearly clock changes. This means Americans will continue setting their clocks forward in March and back in November for the foreseeable future. Why It Matters In April, President Donald Trump urged Congress to pass what he called a "very popular" bill that would make DST permanent. "The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!! DJT," he posted on Truth Social. State legislatures have considered over 750 bills and resolutions in recent years to establish year-round DST, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The debate affects daily routines, sleep patterns, and public health for millions of Americans, with studies linking time changes to increased risks of heart attacks, strokes, and traffic accidents. Amber Batteiger, veterinary nurse, PR ad communications manager at Embrace Pet Insurance, previously told Newsweek that even pets are impacted by the time change because dogs are extremely reliant on routine, a sudden shift or change can throw off their internal rhythm. If Congress eventually passes enabling legislation, nearly 40 percent of U.S. states would immediately switch to permanent DST. However, federal law currently permits states to adopt permanent standard time but prohibits them from implementing permanent DST independently. What To Know Since 2015, virtually every state has considered multiple time zone bills, but none of significance passed until 2018, when Florida became the first state to enact legislation to permanently observe DST, the NCSL reports. The 19 states that have passed laws to adopt year-round DST, pending federal authorization, are: Texas Oklahoma Colorado Alabama Georgia Minnesota Mississippi Montana Idaho (Pacific time zone only) Louisiana South Carolina Utah Wyoming Delaware Maine Oregon (Pacific time zone only) Tennessee Washington Florida California voters approved Proposition 7 in 2018, requiring a two-thirds legislative vote to enact changes, but no action has followed. Seven states and territories already observe standard time year-round: Hawaii Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands According to a 2020 Congressional Research Service report, the U.S. experimented with year-round DST twice: during World War II from 1942 to 1945, and during the 1973 energy crisis from January 1974 to April 1975. What People Are Saying In March, President Donald Trump was asked when he plans to get rid of the time change and he replied: "Ok, are you ready? So, this should be the easiest one of all, but it's a 50-50 issue. And if something's a 50-50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it. I assumed people would like to have more light later. But some people want to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark." Circadian physiologist Jamie Zeitzer told Newsweek in September: "When you get light in the morning, it speeds up the circadian cycle. When you get light in the evening, it slows things down. You generally need more morning light and less evening light to keep well synchronized to a 24-hour day." "The more light exposure you get at the wrong times, the weaker the circadian clock. All of these things that are downstream—for example, your immune system, your energy—don't match up quite as well." What Happens Next? Americans should set their clocks back one hour before bed Saturday night. DST will return on March 8, 2026.
