(WWJ) President Donald Trump apparently is not a big fan of springing forward and falling back.
The president tweeted on Monday that making Daylight Saving Time permanent would be OK with him.
A federal law specifies that daylight time applies from 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March until 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November, in areas that do not specifically exempt themselves.
This was instituted in the U.S. during World War I in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. The passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005 extended daylight saving time by four weeks — from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.
Last week, Florida Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, along with Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, re-introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make DST permanent nationwide.
More than two dozen states, including Michigan, have considered measures to extend DST in recent years -- but so far they haven't gone anywhere.
In Warren, Mayor Jim Fouts said he has and will continue to push for reform on what he calls an "antiquated practice."
"This at best is a nuisance for workers and students to have to adjust to this time altering practice," Fouts wrote in a Facebook post."This adversely affects the health of everyone and studies show that heart attacks increase by 24%. Accidents increase as well. Students are sleepy in class and are not able to perform well. All this takes time to adjust and time is money. Efficiency and worker productivity goes down resulting in extra cost for business."
The mayor added that he supports a sponsored bill by Michigan Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton) that would require Michigan to remain on Eastern Standard Time all year long. "This can be done since two states, Hawaii and Arizona, remain on standard time year round. I hope the bill does pass and we have one standard time for our health and happiness," Fouts said.
While some say they like the "extra daylight" to keep kids from walking to school in the dark or for other reasons, many on social media have expressed support for doing away with the time change.
Darcie Sanders DiBasio responded to Fouts: "Thank you for trying to get rid of this! I hate hate hate it. We have higher accidents, and students do poorer on tests for about a month afterwards. We don't need this."
Angie Vajman Denha added simply: "Agree. Quit messing with the clock!!!"
[Senator Wants Michigan To Stay On Daylight Saving Time Permanently>