Daylight saving time begins Sunday
Daylight saving time begins again at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 12.
For those who may not know the history of the time-changing occurrence, the Atlanta JournalConstitution has gathered some notable facts:
The tradition started with bug hunting
In 1895, George Hudson, New Zealand entomologist, thought up the modern concept of daylight saving time. He proposed a twohour time shift, so he’d have more after-work hours of sunshine to go bug hunting in the summer, according to National Geographic. He presented his idea to the Wellington Philosophical Society, but it didn’t have any legs until British builder William Willett suggested a similar concept in 1905. His idea would be presented to the British Parliament in 1909. Still, that practice would not officially become standard in the United Kingdom until 1916.
Germany was the first country to observe daylight saving time
On April 30, 1916, Germany embraced daylight saving time to conserve electricity, according to History.com. Weeks later, the United Kingdom followed suit and introduced “summer time.”
It’s ‘saving’ not ‘savings’
Though many people add an ‘s’ at the end of saving when writing and talking about it, the term is daylight saving time.
It’s been a law in the U.S. since 1966, but its origins date to 1918
The law “to save daylight” was passed by Congress in 1918. After World War I, however, state governments were left to decide whether they wanted to continue with the time change.
The law resurfaced during World War II, but again, after the war, the time change decision was left to each state. Some states kept it, and others abandoned it.
Daylight saving time didn’t officially become a law until 1966, under the Uniform Time Act.
Congress did not decree the March and November daylight saving time slots until 2007. In that year, daylight saving time started the second Sunday in March and ended the first Sunday of November.
Not every U.S. state recognizes daylight saving time
Though it’s become an international practice, there are a few places in the United States that do not observe daylight saving time. It is not observed in Hawaii and most of Arizona. The Navajo Nation, which is located within Arizona, does observe the time change.
Several U.S. territories also skip the twice-yearly clock reset; Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and American Samoa do not observe daylight saving time.
The end of daylight saving time?
In recent years, efforts in both California and Washington, D.C. have taken aim at ending the practice.
On March 2, a bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators led by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reintroduced the “Sunshine Protection Act,” while Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., introduced a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid. Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done,” Rubio said on March 2.
Buchanan noted the economic and health benefits to making daylight saving time permanent.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., is among the bills co-sponsors.
Last March, the bill was passed unanimously by the Senate, but died in the house after disagreement over whether to keep standard time or permanent daylight saving time.
In 2018, more than 7.1 million Californians voted to allow a twothirds vote of the state Legislature to do away with daylight saving time — provided the state gets approval from the federal government.
The movement to end clock switching in the state had been championed by then-Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose. After it passed, Chu introduced a bill that would put California on permanent daylight saving time, but later pulled the bill and turned it into a two-year measure saying, “My main goal will always be to stop the practice of switching back and forth, and I am dedicated to make this a reality.”
Then the bill died in committee, Chu left office, and the cause lost its champion.
Irvine Republican Assemblyman Steven Choi took up the mantle in 2022, with Assembly Bill 2868. It failed get the required two-thirds vote required in order for it to pass.
News-Sentinel staff writer K. Cathey and Sacramento Bee writer Andrew Sheeler contributed to this report.