Daylight saving time bill is signed
Stitt ‘locks the clock’ pending fed approval
Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed a Senate bill that would lock Oklahoma into daylight saving time year-round upon approval of federal legislation.
Here’s what we know:
Oklahoma’s SB 1200 would ‘lock the clock’
Authored by Sen. Blake Stephens, R-Tahlequah, Senate Bill 1200 would require Oklahoma to adopt daylight saving time as the year-round standard time if a federal law is passed that authorizes states to do so.
“I am incredibly appreciative of my fellow lawmakers on both sides of the rotunda who voted in favor of this measure, landing it on the governor’s desk,” Stephens said in a news release after Stitt signed the bill. “Further, I extend my appreciation to Governor Stitt for his approval of this legislation that will give us an extra hour of daylight in the evenings during the winter months once the Sunshine Protection Act is approved by Congress.”
The U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 and reintroduced it in 2023.
But the U.S. House has yet to consider the bill that would permanently extend daylight saving time from just eight months to the entire year.
“I have long advocated for locking our clock and have spent many hours with my legislative colleagues and various organizations to discuss the benefits of adopting permanent DST,” Stephens said. “Oklahoma’s future is looking even brighter now that we have this law in place, and I look forward to continuing the fight and working with our federal delegation to support the passage of the Sunshine Protection Act so we can officially lock our clocks.”
What is daylight saving time?
Daylight saving time is the practice of setting the clock forward one hour in the spring to have the times of sunrise and sunset at hours that allow for more sunlight in the evening hours.
The Uniform Time Act established nationwide standards for daylight saving time when it was signed in 1966. Before that, there was a patchwork of standards as municipalities and states chose whether to observe the practice.