ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Perhaps a little tired after this weekend's time change and wanting to do something about it, U.S. Senators unanimously passed legislation that would finally, in Marco Rubio's words, "lock the clock."
The Florida Republican in recent years has spearheaded efforts in Washington, D.C., to do away with the biannual "springing forward" and "falling back." In 2018, then Florida-Gov. Rick Scott signed the Sunshine Protection Act into law at the state level, but it's always been up to Congress to make changes in how the nation tells time.
Rubio on Tuesday spoke in favor of his bill, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, to make daylight saving time permanent across the country starting in 2023. Currently, clocks move forward an hour in March to switch to daylight saving time and move back an hour in November for standard time.
If Rubio's bill passes the House and is signed into law by President Joe Biden no later than November, clocks would spring forward one more time next year and stay there.
"Just this past weekend, we all went through that biannual ritual of changing the clock back and forth, and the disruption that comes with it," Rubio said. "And one has to ask themselves after a while, "Why do we keep doing it? Why are we doing this?'"
One of the major benefits of year-round daylight saving time, Rubio said, includes more sunshine at a later hour.
So what would this look like in Florida?
In the Tampa Bay region, you can expect roughly 115 days with sunrise before 7 a.m. on year-round daylight saving time compared to about 145 days now, according to this visualization by Andy Woodruff. South Florida, because it is farther east, would experience more days with a 7 a.m. sunrise than communities on the Gulf Coast.
But for those who enjoy more light at night, this is why you'd want to keep daylight saving time: Tampa currently has about 292 days with a sunset after 6 p.m., according to the visualization mentioned above. That increases to roughly 365 days — all year round — with daylight saving time always in effect.
Let's get this out of the way: The western Florida panhandle is in the central time zone. People there would have a sunset after 6 p.m. about 290 days out of the year with permanent daylight saving time, depending on the exact location, or about 60 days more.
Rubio's office says studies have shown permanent DST could come with benefits, including:
Improving road safety
- Reducing car crashes by better aligning daylight hours with standard work hours
Improving the economy
- A JPMorgan Chase study apparently found a drop in financial activity when the clocks moved back.
Benefitting people's health
- Permanent DST is reportedly associated with a reduced risk of depression, cardiac issues and more physical fitness, which could reduce obesity.
Helping the environment - a little?
- Research has shown minimal, but trackable, energy use reductions may be associated with permanent DST. As our VERIFY team found, the electrical savings aren't much.