San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Daylight time all year? Been there, hated it
In an age when consensus is as rare as the snow leopard, politicians may have hit on the one issue that unites them.
Daylight saving time.
The Senate recently passed legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent starting in 2023, thus ending the jolt to our nervous systems triggered by the twice-a-year switch of the clock.
Dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, the bill passed unanimously by voice vote; it must now go to the House, but even if it passes there, President Joe Biden has not indicated if he will sign it into law.
Throughout the heartland, the bill enjoys bipartisan support, with about 30 states having introduced legislation to end the twice yearly changing of clocks.
“I know this is not the most important issue confronting America, but it’s one of those issues where there’s a lot of agreement,” Sen. Marco Rubio, RFla., a sponsor of the bill, said. “If we can get this passed, we don’t have to do this stupidity anymore.”
Yes and no. Annoyed by the disruption of their sleep, Americans have been railing against the time switch for decades. Each time we spring forward or fall back, we receive many letters from readers who have had enough of this nonsense. But — and, granted, this is highly unscientific — it appears many readers would prefer standard time year-round and have concerns about lingering, dark mornings.
New Zealand entomologist George Hudson proposed the time switch in 1895, saying it could provide hours of evening fun devoted to “cricket, gardening, cycling or any other outdoor pursuit desired.”
Americans could pass on cricket, and in time, they would want to pass on the time switch itself.
Daylight saving time had been around for almost a century, but changing the clocks every year did not become permanent until Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966.
It was then that the protests grew louder, as jarring as the alarm clocks needed to wake up millions of tired Americans.
Supporters say the legislation could eliminate the small increase in the rate of heart attacks and strokes that studies have found come with springing forward. And there is the potential for an economic bump from people being outside longer, playing, say, golf in brighter evenings.
Whatever benefits may arise from making daylight saving time permanent, Americans should heed the lessons of history, so often the best teacher.
The primary teaching moment came almost 50 years ago, when President Richard Nixon signed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Act, calling for daylight saving time to be enforced for about 16 months, from Jan. 6, 1974, until April 27, 1975.
With their children enshrouded in darkness as they walked to school or waited for buses, parents protested that the perils of permanent daylight saving time were not worth its benefits. The politicians listened, and year-round daylight saving time was junked.
Those concerns persist. There are also concerns about a loss of sleep.
“You may think that the extra hour of evening light we gain with DST is good for you,” Horacio de la Iglesia, a professor of biology at the University of Washington, said. “But research shows that the hour of morning light we miss out on under DST is unhealthy for your body and mind.”
Learning from the near disaster of the 1974 legislation, officials should remain flexible, creating an exit ramp if permanent daylight saving time proves too burdensome.
What is done can be undone, as Congress has shown before.
Perhaps it would be better to make standard time permanent. The debates would create more chaos for Congress, but, alas, we are used to that.