{"id":15470,"date":"2023-09-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=15470"},"modified":"2023-09-01T10:21:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T16:21:49","slug":"texas-house-votes-to-permanently-stay-on-daylight-saving-time-but-congress-wont-allow-it-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=15470","title":{"rendered":"Texas House Votes To Permanently Stay On Daylight Saving Time. But Congress Won\u2019t Allow It \u2014 Yet."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The chamber voted 138-5 on Wednesday to approve a bill that seeks to end the practice of changing clocks twice a year. But that doesn\u2019t mean the measure has an easy path to reality.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Texas Capitol just after sunset in 2021. Credit: Evan L’Roy\/The Texas Tribune<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune
April 11, 2023<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Texas House votes to permanently stay on daylight saving time. But Congress won\u2019t allow it \u2014 yet.” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans \u2014 and engages with them \u2014 about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Texas House has taken sides in one of America\u2019s most polarizing debates \u2014 whether to continue changing clocks twice a year, ditch daylight saving time altogether or stick with later daylight permanently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The representatives\u2019 overwhelming verdict: Stay on daylight saving time moving forward.
The chamber voted 138-5 on Wednesday to approve House Bill 1422, from Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe.
\u201cThe antiquated practice of \u2018springing forward\u2019 and \u2018falling back\u2019 \u2014 changing our clocks twice a year \u2014 is frustrating to many Texans,\u201d Metcalf said ahead of a vote that gave the bill initial approval on Tuesday. \u201cI believe we should stick to a time without switching twice a year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, asked if the House could vote on who likes which variation of time before voting on the bill, which drew a couple of chuckles. That vote did not occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The idea is far from becoming reality. Once the bill gets a final House vote, it still has to clear the Senate. And even if signed to law by Gov. Greg Abbott \u2014 who said in a social media post, “I STRONGLY support this” \u2014 the measure would still require an OK from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Federal law lets states exempt themselves from observing daylight saving time \u2014 meaning they remain on standard time year-round \u2014 if they pass state laws doing so. But states do not have the power to permanently observe daylight saving time, like the Texas House wants, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


That\u2019s the federal agency that oversees the country\u2019s time zones and uniform observance of daylight saving time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and \u201cmost of Arizona\u201d do not observe daylight saving time, according to the transportation department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


If HB 1422 were to become law, Texas would join 19 states that have enacted or passed measures for year-round observation of daylight saving time, according to a tally from research group National Conference of State Legislatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Still, the laws cannot go into effect \u2014 as HB 1422 notes \u2014 unless Congress enacts a law granting states the authority to observe daylight saving time all the time. Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a federal bill last month that seeks to do just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cThis ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,\u201d Rubio said in a statement last month. \u201cLocking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


HB 1422 is among at least 18 bills that have been filed this session concerning Texas\u2019 time and daylight saving. Some of the proposals are similar to HB 1422; others would let voters decide the time of day through a referendum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


While many researchers and sleep experts approve of no longer switching clocks twice a year, there appears to be less consensus about whether to follow daylight saving time or standard time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, for instance, supports eliminating seasonal time changes and has found that permanently switching to daylight saving time could increase mood disorders and motor vehicle crashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The group wrote in a 2020 statement \u201ccurrent evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology and provides distinct benefits for public health and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The National Sleep Foundation also endorses sticking with standard time, writing in its own opinion about the matter that \u201cthe human circadian system does not adjust to annual clock changes. Sleep becomes disrupted, less efficient, and shortened. [Daylight saving time] forces our biological clocks out of sync with the rising and setting of the sun (the sun clock). The link between our biological clock and the sun clock has been crucial to human health and well-being for millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Polls have shown Americans also want to stop changing their clocks twice a year but are not on the same page about which time to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Disclosure: National Conference of State Legislatures has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


We can\u2019t wait to welcome you Sept. 21-23 to the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, our multiday celebration of big, bold ideas about politics, public policy and the day\u2019s news \u2014 all taking place just steps away from the Texas Capitol. When tickets go on sale in May, Tribune members will save big. Donate to join or renew today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2023\/04\/11\/texas-daylight-saving-time\/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chamber voted 138-5 on Wednesday to approve a bill that seeks to end the practice of changing clocks twice a year. But that doesn\u2019t mean the measure has an easy path to reality. By Alejandro Serrano, The Texas TribuneApril 11, 2023 “Texas House votes to permanently stay on daylight saving time. But Congress won\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[67,9],"class_list":["post-15470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-state","tag-featured","tag-latest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15472,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15470\/revisions\/15472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}