As the country prepares to spring forward - and lose a valuable hour of sleep in the process - people from coast to coast begin to wonder if daylight saving time (DST) is such a bright idea after all.
First implemented in Germany in 1916, the idea behind turning our clocks back and delaying the sunset was to add more hours of daylight to our "after work" hours. But from its very beginnings DST has always been a pretty unpopular idea.
America introduced its daylight saving plan in 1918, as a way to save energy during the First World War (but modern researchers aren't convinced DST saves much energy at all).
The time change has only taken effect nationwide (minus Arizona) since 1966, when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act.
This week, Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott introduced a new bill to keep DST year-round and give up on time changes altogether.
Their scheme, called the "Sunshine Protection Act," follows a similar measure to "lock the clock" passed by California voters. Florida's legislature has already passed a measure to stop time-switching, but needs congressional approval to let it take effect.
Already, Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have opted out of DST, and a number of states including New York, New Mexico, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, and Arkansas are looking into the option.
The Florida lawmakers included a laundry list of supposes benefits to year-round DST in a press release about their bill, including lower numbers of car crashes and accidents involving pedestrians, lower levels of seasonal depression, and economic benefits.
Floridians will switch their clocks forward this year, as always, but lawmakers hope 2019 will be their last time.
This year, the clocks springs forward one hour on Sunday, March 10, at 2:00 a.m. Don't forget to change your smoke detector batteries as you reset your clocks!
[H/T: Palm Beach Post]
