Several bills filed in the Texas Legislature, if any passed, would allow voters in November to decide whether they want to keep Daylight Savings Time the permanent time or abolish it completely. Texas is not the only state to do this. Already, many states have passed bills that, once the federal law is changed, their state would move to make Daylight Savings their permanent time. There are several reasons for this, especially since there is no benefit to switching between Daylight Savings and Standard time, people would have more time with family after work, and polls show most Texans favor Daylight Savings time rather than the standard time.
During the last session of the United States Legislature, Senator Marco Rubio was able to pass the Sunshine Act in the US Senate. The bill would have made Daylight Savings the permanent time. But once it made it to the US House, the bill did not have any traction. He’s pushing for it again this session, hoping it will become law. Rubio points out the economic benefits of staying on daylight savings time. Families are more likely to do more after work and people are more likely to go out since there is more daylight. People would be more likely to spend money if there is more light out.
Medical doctors are also for ending changing times twice a year, but for different reasons. Doctors show cardiac events increase because of circadian rhythm disruptions happening from the time change. They also point to a slight increase in cardiovascular events, mood disorders, and even a small rise in car accidents. Additionally, people are negatively affected by Daylight Savings time weeks after the spring forward.
But, doctors are against permanent Daylight Savings, and state that Standard Time is better for us. Our internal clock is more linked to Standard Time for light in the morning and darkness in the evening. According to them, if we have more light in the evenings, it will be harder for us to sleep, and if we have more darkness in the morning, it will be harder for us to wake up. Naturally, doctors say, our circadian rhythm desires to wake up when it’s light and sleep when it is dark. As states, like Texas, are seeking to change to permanent Daylight Savings time, that practice has already been tried. During an energy crisis in the 70s, the US supported a permanent Daylight Savings time in 1974. However, after the first few weeks of dark mornings in winter, that support plummeted.
There’s really no point in switching times twice a year. The reason that we started the practice was not because of farmers, but to conserve energy during WW1 and WW2. While Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea to have Daylight Savings time as a way to conserve energy, the practice was never adopted until Germany used it in 1916 to conserve fuel during WW1. The US adopted it in 1918 but it was repealed a year later as farmers were against the practice. Daylight savings time was never for farmers. They lost light in the morning and the time change throws off cows too. Farmers’ voices were heard by Woodrow Wilson who abolished it a year later. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reinstituted it in 1942 as a wartime measure.
States since then were choosing for themselves if they stayed on Daylight Savings or Standard Time, and in 1966 Congress passed the Uniform Time Act to regulate the nation from Standard Time during the fall and winter, and Daylight Savings during the spring and summer. Arizona and Hawaii do not observe daylight savings time. States can exempt themselves under state law to stay on Standard Time, but cannot permanently stay on Daylight Savings time. No state laws that want to use permanent Daylight Savings can take effect until the federal law changes. Today, Daylight Savings time does not actually conserve energy. In total electricity usage, daylight savings only saves about 3%.