The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, is headed for a U.S. House floor vote this week.
What the Sunshine Protection Act Would Actually Do
- Makes daylight saving time — not standard time — the new year-round default
- Ends the twice-a-year clock change entirely: no more “springing forward” or “falling back”
- States that currently opt out of DST (Hawaii, most of Arizona) could exempt themselves and keep standard time permanently
- If passed, it would still need Senate approval before becoming law
Sponsored in the House by Rep. Vern Buchanan and in the Senate by Sen. Rick Scott, this version specifically locks in the “spring forward” time rather than the “fall back” one — a distinction that has repeatedly split Congress and derailed past attempts.
How the Bill Reached This Point
The Sunshine Protection Act isn’t new — it has been introduced repeatedly across multiple sessions of Congress. In 2022, the Senate actually passed a version by unanimous consent, but several senators later said they would have objected had they realized it could pass that easily. That version expired at the end of the year without a House vote.
This time around, the bill has moved further than in years past:
- May 2026: language from the bill was folded into a larger transportation funding package that passed a roll-call vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 48-1
- July 2026: the full House scheduled a floor vote for the week of July 13
- President Trump has publicly backed the bill, calling it “a very nice WIN for the Republican Party” on Truth Social
Six Competing Bills, One Unresolved Fight
Part of why permanent time change has failed for years isn’t lack of support — it’s that Congress can’t agree on which time to lock in. As of July 2026, there are six separate bills addressing the issue:
| Bill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sunshine Protection Act (House/Senate) | Permanent daylight saving time nationwide |
| The Daylight Act (Rep. Celeste Maloy) | Lets states opt into year-round DST |
| Rep. Mike Rogers’ bill | Closes a legal gap so states can choose year-round DST (mirrors existing standard-time opt-out) |
| Sunshine for Our Kids Act | Permanent standard time, with state opt-in for DST |
| The Daylight Act of 2026 (Rep. Greg Steube) | “Half-daylight saving time” — clocks move forward just 30 minutes, permanently |
| New standard-time bill (Reps. Scanlon & Harrigan) | Permanent standard time, with exceptions |
Only the Sunshine Protection Act has cleared committee and reached the floor; the other five remain stuck in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Case for Each Side
Arguments for permanent daylight saving time:
- Ends the disruption of switching clocks twice a year
- Supporters link the biannual change to increased workplace injuries and traffic accidents in the days following each switch
- More usable evening daylight for activities after work or school
Arguments for permanent standard time:
- Numerous sleep and health researchers argue standard time aligns better with the body’s natural circadian rhythm
- Opponents like Sen. Tom Cotton warn permanent DST would create extremely late winter sunrises, forcing children to walk to school in the dark
- The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has publicly favored standard time as the healthier year-round option
A 2023 YouGov poll found 62% of Americans want to stop switching clocks altogether — but even among that group, opinion splits: about half prefer permanent daylight time, 31% prefer permanent standard time, and the rest have no strong preference.
A History of False Starts With Permanent Daylight Saving Time
The U.S. has tried permanent daylight saving time before, and it didn’t stick. Congress enacted a year-and-a-half experiment with year-round DST from January 1974 to April 1975, under the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act — but ended it early, in October 1974, after public backlash centered on the same concern raised today: children waiting for school buses in the dark.
What Happens Next
If the Sunshine Protection Act clears the House this week, it still faces the same obstacle that has killed previous attempts: Senate approval, followed by presidential signature. Given that a prior Senate version passed unanimously in 2022 only to stall in the House, and this year’s House vote follows years of competing bills going nowhere, whether 2026 actually becomes the year the clock-changing ritual ends remains genuinely uncertain. Unless some version of this legislation is signed into law before November, Americans should still expect to set their clocks back on November 1 as usual.
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