Updated Oct. 31 – Florida’s second Sunshine law won’t see the light of day before the time changes this Sunday, Nov. 4.
The Florida Legislature passed the Sunshine Protection Act earlier this year, signed by Gov. Rick Scott, that would allow the Sunshine State to have Daylight Saving Time all year.
But since the federal government controls American time zones, Congress must amend federal law to authorize Florida to enact its state law.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R- FL) introduced the Sunshine State Act in Congress, which would allow Florida to enact its state Sunshine Protection Act. He also introduced the federal Sunshine Protection Act in Congress, which would make Daylight Saving Time nationwide.
But time has run out.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
This Sunday, the time changes again. Mid-term elections are next week, Tuesday, Nov. 6, after which time the bill will have to be reintroduced.
And Congress is not in session this week, and won’t be until Tuesday, Nov. 13.
If the bill ever passes, it will not be the first time Floridians experience year-round Daylight Saving Time; during the oil crisis in the 1970s, Congress passed the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973, which temporarily made Daylight Saving Time year-round in part of 1974-75.
And Florida would not be the only state to be different; Arizona and Hawaii do not observe Daylight Saving Time at all.
Arguments for extended Daylight Saving Time
- Gives people more time to be outdoors after work in the winter
- Better for tourism, when tourists have more light in the evening to be shopping or at the beach
- Benefits the economy, including the elimination of a substantial economic decline that comes every November when clocks move back, according to a study by JP Morgan Chase of major city regions, which found that there is a drop in economic activity of 2.2 percent to 4.9 percent when clocks move back.
- Benefits the agricultural economy, which is disproportionately disrupted by biannual changes in time by upsetting farm schedules and farmers’ relationships with their supply chain and distribution partners
- Reduces the number of robberies by 27 percent, according to a 2015 Brookings Institution report, because of additional daylight in the evenings
- Reduces car crashes and car wrecks involving pedestrians because the additional sunlight increases visibility, according to the American Journal of Public Health and the Journal of Safety Research
- Reduces childhood obesity, according to studies published by the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity and the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, which found that children have more hours of physical activity during DST
- Increases physical fitness, according to the Journal of Environment Psychology, which found that Daylight Saving Time increases pedestrian activity by 62 percent and cyclists activity by 38 percent because of additional daylight
- Positively impacts wildlife conservation, according to a collaboration of 16 experts who studied DST’s impact on wildlife across the United States, Europe and parts of Australia, concluding that DST reduces the number of vehicle collisions with wildlife by 8-11 percent by shifting normal traffic patterns to an hour off from nocturnal wildlife’s behavior
Arguments against extended Daylight Saving Time
- Children will have to stand in the dark while waiting for the bus
- Teens, with little driving experience, would have to drive to school for more days in the dark
- TV schedules will be impacted, including pushing late newscasts to midnight
- The Times Square ball drop in New York on New Year’s Eve at midnight will happen at 1 a.m. in most of Florida
- Most of Florida will be an hour ahead of Atlanta, Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. from November to March, complicating airline schedules and calendar invites (only Panhandle communities, which are on Central Standard Time, would mesh with Eastern cities if the proposed change happens).
