Washington (March 8, 2024) – With Daylight Saving Time (DST) “spring forward” right around the corner, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), cosponsors of the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent, released the following statement calling for an extra hour of sunlight all year long. In March 2022, the Sunshine Protection Act unanimously passed the Senate.

 

“Instead of springing forward and falling back every year, we should just make Daylight Saving Time permanent,” said Senator Markey. “The antiquated biannual ritual of toggling between times isn’t just an inconvenience—it also has very real impacts on our economy, our energy consumption, and our health. We know the sun will come out tomorrow, so let’s make that sun stay out an hour later by making Daylight Saving Time permanent and passing the Sunshine Protection Act.  You can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there’ll be sun … and smiles.”

 

“We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” said Senator Rubio.

 

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, then-Representative Markey and Congressman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) amended the Uniform Time Act of 1966, extending the duration of DST in the spring by changing its start date from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March, and in the fall by changing its end date from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. In 1985, then-Representative Markey also partnered with Congressman Carlos Moorhead (R-Calif.) to extend DST by three weeks by changing the beginning of DST from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April.

 

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