People tired of dark afternoon commutes will only need wait a little while longer until they see the light.
Daylight saving time starts Sunday, March 9. The “spring forward” changeover officially takes place at 2 a.m. when we move our clocks ahead one hour, though modern technology has made that much easier. The change means sunrise and sunset will be one hour later on March 9 than the previous day, moving more light in the evening and less in the morning.
The time change is followed by the vernal, or spring, equinox in the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, making the official start of spring.
We will remain on DST until Nov. 2 when we “fall back” to standard time and set the clocks back one hour.
DST, a wartime idea first observed in 1918 to conserve energy, is recognized in every U.S. state except for Hawaii and most of Arizona. It starts each year on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, a schedule first instituted in 2007 after the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The idea of abolishing the twice-yearly time change ritual has grown increasingly popular in recent years and is on the radar of the Trump administration. The president has called the twice yearly time change “inconvenient” and “costly’ and said Republicans were using their “best efforts” to eliminate DST.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, recently reintroduced the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act that would do away with the time change by make DST permanent year round. Earlier efforts to establish permanent DST passed the Senate but did not receive House approval, effectively killing the bill.
According to the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states are allowed to stay on standard time year-round – something done in Hawaii and Arizona – but are not able to permanently establish DST, meaning Congress would have to change the law. Nineteen states, including Alabama, have already passed legislation to do away with the time change, pending Congressional approval.
