PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Legislation backed by President Trump that would make daylight saving time permanent has an uncertain future in the Senate after passing the House.
If the “Sunshine Protection Act” passes the Senate and is signed by the president, Americans would remain sprung forward, in daylight saving time. The House of Representatives voted 308-117 in favor of the bill.
Dr. Indira Gurubhagavatula, director of Penn Medicine’s Sleep Medicine Fellowship, has advocated for a shift, but said standard time has been the healthy way to go. “People don’t like dark mornings,” she said.
The United States attempted a permanent switch to daylight saving time in 1974, but lawmakers fell back because it was a catastrophic failure, according to Gurubhagavatula. Children were hit by cars while walking to school in the dark and farmers had to do their work without sunlight.
“We lasted less than one season and it was changed back by overwhelming congressional majority,” said Gurubhagavatula, “and under permanent daylight saving time, we just get many more weeks or months where the sun doesn’t come up until after 8 a.m.”
She added that a forever change to daylight saving time would be more harmful than continuing to spring forward and fall back each year.
“Bright evening light interferes with the brain’s release of the melatonin, which is the hormone that tells the brain when it’s time to go to sleep and when it’s time to get up,” explained Gurubhagavatula.
The bill lets states opt out before it takes effect, but for states out of session over the summer, that window would close and daylight saving would become the default.
Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon has introduced the “Sunshine for Our Kids Act,” an opposing bill that would keep the clock permanently set to standard time. That legislation has the support of sleep researchers and child safety advocates.
Bipartisan legislation to make daylight saving permanent passes House
Bipartisan legislation to make daylight saving permanent passes House
