The saying goes that it takes an act of Congress to get something done. That includes Daylight Saving Time (DST).
“Yes, it would take an act of Congress to do away with Daylight Saving Time,” said Mike Martinez, assistant professor of legal studies at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC).
“Initially, reasons that included concerns about child safety when it’s dark during the school year. It’s something that has been debated for decades.”
DST started in the early 1900s and was mandated in the U.S. when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966. According to a poll conducted by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs, only 12 percent of Americans still support the fall and spring time changes. Even so it is yet to be accomplished.
“Unfortunately, the joke is that Congress is where good ideas go to die,” said Martinez. “Part of the problem is that for the past 40 years, Congress has become increasingly divisive, and a lot of districts are so heavily gerrymandered that they don’t want to play ball with the other party. That’s why it’s so hard to get anything done.”
So what needs to happen to either change or abolish DST?
“States can opt out of Daylight Saving and remain on Standard Time,” said Martinez. “Other states, like Georgia, have passed laws to stay on permanent Daylight Saving, but it can’t go into effect without federal authorization.”
Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that don’t observe DST, along with five U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Island. So far, more than 20 states have passed legislation or resolutions to make DST permanent.
Adding to the issue states face is whether to adopt permanent DST or standard time. Either way, it still requires federal approval.
There may be light at the end of the tunnel. The Daylight Act of 2026 (H.R. 7378) was introduced in February. It proposes to shift time zones by 30 minutes permanently and eliminate DST.
“It’s tiring to have to change your clocks twice a year,” said Martinez. “It disrupts sleep cycles for millions of Americans. You already deal with the time zones in the U.S. and then need to add moving your clocks forward and back twice a year. Having a permanent time would benefit everyone.”