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Government United States

Senate Passes Bill To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent (axios.com) 307

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Axios: The Senate passed a measure that would make Daylight Savings Time permanent across the U.S. The bill -- the Sunshine Protection Act co-sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) -- was passed by unanimous consent. It would make Daylight Savings time permanent in 2023. If the legislation clears the House and is signed into law by President Biden, it will mean Americans will no longer have to change their clocks twice a year.

Health groups have called for an end to the seasonal shifting of clocks, a ritual first adopted in the U.S. more than a century ago. At a house hearing last week, health experts cited sleep deprivation and health problems as negative effects associated with changing clocks. Nearly two-thirds of Americans want to stop changing their clocks, according to a 2021 Economist/YouGov poll.
Axios has learned that Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) "will be leading a letter to Speaker Pelosi calling for immediate House passage of his bill."

By making DST permanent, legislators are prioritizing more daylight in the evening, which could improve our health and allow for more sunshine during the most productive hours of the day. According to a new study published yesterday, sleeping in the dark may reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes. "The results from this study demonstrate that just a single night of exposure to moderate room lighting during sleep can impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation, which are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome," said study author Dr Phyllis Zee.
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Senate Passes Bill To Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

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  • I would have made standard time the norm. Chicago is six 15-degree slices away from Greenich and is -6. Just stick with that.
    • by brunes69 ( 86786 )

      People in northern latitudes do not like waking up to and driving to work in darkness for 1/3 of the year. And the decreased visibility causes demonstrable increases in accidents and even fatalities, not to mention depression linked to seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

      That is why daylight savings is being chosen.

      • by msauve ( 701917 )
        >People in northern latitudes do not like waking up to and driving to work in darkness for 1/3 of the year.

        So, don't. Convince your boss to start work an hour later.

        >And the decreased visibility causes demonstrable increases in accidents and even fatalities, not to mention depression linked to seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

        That's all just pure bullshit. There's exactly the same amount of light in a day, whether you're on Standard or Daylight time.
        • People in northern latitudes do not like waking up to and driving to work in darkness for 1/3 of the year.

          So, don't. Convince your boss to start work an hour later.

          No, you convince your boss to start work an hour earlier if you don't like it.

          After all, I hear that there's exactly the same amount of light in a day, whether you're on Standard or Daylight time.

          Once we stop changing the clocks, you figure out what is going to work for you, and stop worrying about everyone else.

      • Daylight savings makes it darker in the mornings and lighter at night. Most people will notice they get more daylight when they come home, where do you think you get that daylight from by waking up earlier, its kind of confusing. so here is a diagram, daylight is +1 since you spring forward:

        normal time .: 5,6,7,8,9, ...
        daylight time: 6,7,8,9,10, ....

        So if you are waking up at 6 you are really waking up at 5 normal time and its darker.

        • by lsllll ( 830002 )
          Came to respond just with this to GP. With standard time, in Chicago, the sunrise on December 21 [timeanddate.com] is at 7:14 AM. With DST being permanent, it'll be 8:14 AM. So what he says doesn't make sense.
      • by dfm3 ( 830843 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @05:15PM (#62360783) Journal
        That has less to do with latitude than with your location east or west in the timezone. Portland, Maine and Grand Rapids, Michigan are at the same latitude, and both have the same number of minutes of daylight each day. Winter daylight in Michigan is from about 8:10 AM to 5:10 PM, but in Maine in the winter the sun sets as early as 4:05 PM!

        When I lived on the gulf coast, at the very east edge of central time, winter sunset was around 4:50 PM, which was absolutely brutal... not only did I have to ride home from work in the dark (I got off at 5), but the only daylight available at home on the weekdays was in the morning, which is the least useful time of day for doing anything outside.
    • Oddly, this is a second swing at this - it was done back in the 70s and repealed due to everyone's favorite reasoning for regressive change: "think of the children!"

      Apparently people were very concerned with kids walking to school in the dark [washingtonian.com], and instead of installing street illumination and people not driving like total assholes at 7:00 in the morning, we reverted back to daylight savings clock shifting for the next 40+ years.

      They repealed it the same year it was passed.

      • We don't want children waiting for the bus in the dark or walking home in the dark. God forbid parents ask each school board to adjust the schedules according to what is appropriate for their regional needs.

    • by jbengt ( 874751 )

      Chicago is six 15-degree slices away from Greenich and is -6. Just stick with that.

      The Chicago area, under Central Daylight Saving Time, currently has sunrise around 7:00 am and sunset around 7:00 pm. That's about an hour off having noon at 12:00.
      But Chicago is at the eastern edge of the time zone. It will only be farther off on the western edge of central time, and people in those areas might not be happy with how late the sun rises in the winter. So let those states go to whatever time zone they want

    • Yes, because rules should be made as simple as possible (but not simpler). And the rule is that at 12pm the sun is always at its zenith, as long as you're not within the Arctic circle of course (slightly offset by your longitude in the timezone). If people want to arrive at work in the light during winter then get there at 10am instead of 9 (for example). Not to mention the fact that coding all the weird and wonderful daylight saving rules from across the globe into a software/firmware is a pain
  • by metrix007 ( 200091 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @03:12PM (#62360153)

    It's so bizarre that instead of just adjusting work/school/whatever hours to open and close later in winter, people prefer to join hands in mass delusion to literally pretend the time is something other than what it is.

    • It's so bizarre that instead of just adjusting work/school/whatever hours to open and close later in winter, people prefer to join hands in mass delusion to literally pretend the time is something other than what it is.

      What is your suggested granularity?

      • Planck time since the Big Bang.

        • It should be customary to use Googol Planks. 1 googol plank would be 1.7E49 years. A substantial amount of time, longer than how long it takes subatomic particles to decay (10e40 years) but shorter than the evaporation of the largest black holes (10e100).

          P.S. I hope my math is right.

    • by sjames ( 1099 )

      It was necessary because management is packed with pointy headed morons who all refuse to be the first movers (except when it comes to grabbing credit for other's work).It was actually easier to move the clock out from under them.

      These are the same people who for years took losses because they demanded the grocery store be open with one minimum wage cashier on Thankgiving day so they don't miss that pivotal sale of one bag of brown'n'serve rolls. There's no way they could emotionally handle closing a whole

  • Obviously that means we'll have more daylight in the winter now, hurr durr.
  • Judging by a lot of the comments here, yall depressed motherfuckers could use the extra sunlight!
  • by skam240 ( 789197 )

    Not only would i prefer this done the other way to favor an earlier sunrise I think a shit ton of parents are going to realize they prefer that too when little Suzy and Timmy have to walk to school in the dark.

    • You know what's great, is that you're the parent of a school aged kid only a couple years. The majority of your life you'll then get the benefit of it being brighter out later and not being dark when you get done with work.
    • by King_TJ ( 85913 )

      If this becomes enough of a problem, it seems to me the schools could just start school an hour later? IMO, that would be a good move anyway, as lack of sleep is cited as a big problem for school kids.

    • When Nixon did this in the 1970s as an energy saving measure, parents complained so loudly about their kids going to school in the dark that the time that the change was canceled.
    • It's already the case that kids are walking to school in the dark. I lived less than 2 miles from my high school and I remember waiting at the bus stop in the dark many times, and I was one of the last stops on the way in. I particularly remember a rather bright full moon one day (it was otherwise pitch black, well before dawn), and I think that was the same month we had a "snow day" because the diesel in the buses froze.

      43rd parallel in February, it's dark in the morning. If parents have a problem with it,
    • The 1970s called and wants it's moronic "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!" argument back.

  • by almitydave ( 2452422 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @03:26PM (#62360229)

    This is my personal worst-case scenario. I get that different people have difference preferences, but as someone who's perpetually sleep-deprived it's extremely difficult to wake up in the dark. Mornings in general are already pretty brutal, but this means that during the winter my kid's gotta be at school before the sun comes up. I would have preferred staying on standard time year-round, and as much as I dislike changing clocks twice per year, that's preferable to trying to get up in the dark.

    Are there "morning owls" out there who have equivalent difficulty staying awake until sunset? I would have thought that the people who would most enjoy permanent DST would be early risers who would also be fine with the early light.

    • FWIW, I'm a morning person. I wake up and am instantly awake and ready to take on the day.
      I can also fall asleep instantly and sleep through the night.
      The shifting of clocks, either forward or backwards, really messes with this ability. I'd love to see it killed off.

    • but this means that during the winter my kid's gotta be at school before the sun comes up

      This means nothing of the sort. It just means we're not going to dick around with changing the clocks 2x a year.

      If you don't like the start time of your kid's school, petition the school board to change it. Get like-minded parents to make it an issue. There is absolutely nothing that says kids have to get up before the sun rises in this or any other bill.

      Plenty of schools are already adjusting start times because they realize that school starts unreasonably early for teenagers based on their typical sleep c

    • by Cyberax ( 705495 )

      This is my personal worst-case scenario. I get that different people have difference preferences, but as someone who's perpetually sleep-deprived it's extremely difficult to wake up in the dark.

      You need to buy a programmable light that can simulate the early sunrise. It really helped my partner who has a similar problem. I don't have any problems with falling asleep or sleeping with direct sunlight in my face, so I don't mind either way.

      Also, in winter we use sun lamps to extend the day by about 2 hours.

    • Which is an easier solution to your problem:

      1. installing a timer switch in your bedroom that turns on the lights when you need to wake up, thus you are not waking up in the dark;

      or

      2. Having an entire country of people fuck around with their clocks twice a year, and being disoriented behind the time change for a few days afterward each time.

      Insert thinking emoji here.

      Also, if the start time of your kid's school is problematic, I suggest talking to the school board about that.

  • >By making DST permanent, legislators are prioritizing more daylight in the evening, which could improve our health and allow for more sunshine during the most productive hours of the day.

    No, DST doesn't do any of that. It doesn't change how much daylight there is, at all. It only changes the time on the clock. Who's the idiot who wrote this blather?
    • by King_TJ ( 85913 )

      Obviously, it can't literally cause the sun to shine longer each day!

      The point is, there's an assumption that most businesses in America will continue to operate based on the same clock start and end times they always have. If you make that assumption, then you wind up having more daylight around the 5PM typical end of a work day. (And conversely, if people are still waking up when the clock says 6:30 or 7AM in order to get to work by 8 or 9AM, they're still going to have dark outside right up until the t

  • If the US passes this, Canada will likely follow. Our provinces have studied it to death, but this is something that really needs federal leadership to keep things consistent.
    • Our provinces have studied it to death

      What results have they found?

      • Our provinces have studied it to death

        What results have they found?

        Same as in the US. Almost no one wants time changes. About 20% want standard time. The remaining almost 80% want DST forever. I am in the 80% group, because I already get up in the dark, and having an extra hour after work to be able to go outside would be nice.

  • Therefore, it will not be made into law.
    Heaven forbid the gov't does something the American people want (for a change)

    • The most shocking thing about this story is that it passed the Senate with unanimous consent, which is parliamentarian-speak for "nobody chose this bill to grind an axe on by obstructing and forcing weeks of pointless debate and possible filibuster just to try to draw attention to their own pet issue that is at-best tangentially related." You know, like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz try to do to literally every damn thing that moves.

      The fact that none of the usual cranky assholes didn't use this as a publicity st

    • by methano ( 519830 )
      2/3rds of Americans are morons. We should get rid of DST altogether. No one wants to watch a western called High One O'clock!
  • I've groused about this for years, but never expected anything to actually change.

  • by Generic User Account ( 6782004 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @03:38PM (#62360291)

    Do people really not understand that this means they'll have to get up an hour earlier six months of the year?

    • by edwdig ( 47888 )

      Why would it do that? Most people's schedules are set by the clock, not the sun. This will have zero impact on my mornings, but it's going to make winter afternoons far more useful and way less depressing.

    • Do you really not understand that the hour at which anything happens is just an arbitrary label, and it's the change of that label itself that everyone hates?

      Once we're all on that regulated time labeling, everything will still happen in the same sequence, and you don't have to "get up an hour earlier" ever again, because you're going to sleep at roughly the same time, and waking up roughly the same amount of time later.

  • by t.reagan ( 7420066 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @03:47PM (#62360343)
    "Thousands of scientists say that Standard Time is better, yet legislators are pushing for permanent DST, anyway. The scientists have shown that seeing light in the morning is essential to health, and without it we get more cancer, diabetes, and obesity."
    https://herf.medium.com/why-st... [medium.com]
  • In the 1970s — the last time Congress made Daylight Savings Time permanent — the decision was reversed in less than a year after the early morning darkness proved dangerous for school children and public sentiment changed.

    Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

    • I like to call this type of thinking the Bullwinkle Syndrome: This time, for sure!
    • It is not like things change. Not like kids are far less likely to walk to school and far more likely to bus. Not like more people are in urban areas and not like urban areas have increased street lighting.

      Do you know how many times people tried to legalize pot? Legalize gay marriage? Legalize inter-racial marriage?

      If you fail once, try try again.

  • Everyone seems to think that Daylight Saving Time should be an all-or-nothing approach, but they fail to think about why DST has become so hated.

    In a nutshell - it starts too early, and ends too late in the year in the U.S. Originally DST began in April, after the day had become long enough where shifting the extra daylight hour from the morning to the evening had much less impact on work or school. Starting it in early March means lots of people get to enjoy the next month waking up, going to school, and

    • by edwdig ( 47888 )

      People hate Daylight Savings Time because a huge chunk of people don't understand time zones and think "Daylight Savings Time" means "changing the clocks".

      "I hate Daylight Savings Time - I hate how it gets dark early in the winter" is the most commonly said thing about DST. People don't hate DST, they hate Standard Time, but they don't understand time zones, so they complain about the wrong thing.

      • No, people hate DST. They're just stupid, and like to blame it on the clock changing.

        You will see. Once people are sitting in their offices next winter looking out into the pitch blackness outside, the sentiment will change real quick.
        As OP said, this has been tried before. Both times, people ended up hating it. We just suck at figuring out why we hate it, and we blame the clock change.
    • by Megane ( 129182 )

      Originally DST began in April

      Then someone told Dubya that it would save energy if the week was moved. Thanks, asshole. Now it's ~15 years later, and even more stuff has DST dates baked into it. Regularly updated computer operating systems can adapt, but after a while they're fucked when they can't get updates.

      I know how much of a pain in the ass it is specifically because I had to patch something once to use the old dates. The company was starting a trial site in Mexico, and had to use our 10yo product at first because the next genera

  • I had to walk a mile in the dark to wait a bus stop at a CHURCH or be last on the bus and get no seat at all (no joke there were literally kids standing or sitting on the floor in the aisles).

    There were still plenty of kidnappers, murders, and even worse, Reaganomics lurking in the dark. They'll be fine, if they lived through CV19, they'll be fine on the bus stop in the dark.

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