‘Lock the clock:’ Britt, Tuberville leading effort to make Daylight Savings Time permanent

U.S. Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville are leading the charge with legislation they hope will see the light of day for the nation.

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Britt (R-Montgomery) and Tuberville (R-Auburn) joined Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Senate colleagues in reintroducing the Sunshine Protection Act to officially “lock the clock” to end the twice-yearly time change and make Daylight Saving Time (DST) the national year-round standard.

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“The American people are tired of the antiquated practice of ‘falling back’ every year. Alabamians want more sunshine, and it’s better for our mental and physical health,” said Britt. “With the Sunshine Protection Act, we would make daylight savings time permanent. I appreciate Senator Rick Scott’s leadership in working to ‘lock the clock.’”

In 2022, Tuberville’s DST legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent, but then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi refused to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote.

“Out of all the legislative efforts I’ve been part of in my four years in Congress, the thing I hear about the most from Alabamians is their desire to stop changing our clocks twice a year,” said Tuberville. “I was proud to lead the effort to get the Sunshine Protection Act passed by unanimous consent in 2022, and look forward to working with Sen. Rick Scott to get it completely across the finish line to ‘lock the clock’ once and for all.”

Britt, Tuberville and Scott are joined by Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in introducing the bill.

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Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) is among the GOP skeptics of eliminating the clock change.

“In some states when we went on permanent daylight saving time, it became a safety issue and a very serious one,” he previously told The Hill. “Basically, it required people who get up and go to work in the morning to do so in pitch darkness for quite a bit of the year.”

The legislation, if enacted, would apply to those states that currently participate in DST, which most states observe for eight months out of the year. Standard Time is observed for the four winter months from November to March. The bill would negate the need for Americans to change their clocks twice a year.

The Alabama Legislature passed a bill in 2021 to permanently implement DST year-round, but legislation must first be passed at the federal level for the state law to take effect.