House set to vote on permanent daylight saving time bill

The House was set to vote next week on a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent. The change would give shoppers, restaurants and other evening businesses more light after work while leaving schoolchildren and commuters starting winter mornings in darkness.

H.R. 139 was introduced in the House on January 3, 2025 and sent to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Its Senate companion, S. 29, was introduced on January 7, 2025. The House committee backed the idea 48-1 in May. The Senate passed a prior version, S. 623, by unanimous consent on March 15, 2022, but it never became law after failing to advance in the House.

Federal law already allows states to stay on permanent standard time, but not permanent daylight saving time, which is why state efforts have depended on Congress. At least 19 states have enacted laws to observe year-round daylight saving time if Congress authorizes it, and at least 35 states considered 93 daylight-saving-related bills or resolutions in 2025, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Florida, Hawaii and Arizona remain among the states that do not observe the biannual clock changes in the same way as most of the country.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine favors abolishing the seasonal changes in favor of a fixed, national, year-round standard time. Its physicians argue that permanent daylight saving time would bring darker winter mornings and can disrupt sleep patterns and safety. In the United States, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.