19 US States Have Approved Permanent Daylight Saving Time Legislation

Key facts

• Nineteen US states have passed legislation to enact permanent daylight saving time and stop changing clocks, but these measures remain stalled because federal law restricts year-round daylight saving time.
• Florida became the first state to pass a resolution for year-round daylight saving time in 2018, followed by 18 other states enacting similar laws, resolutions, or trigger clauses.
• States that passed permanent DST legislation include Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Kentucky.
• Under the Uniform Time Act of 1966, states may observe standard time year-round, as Arizona and Hawaii do, but cannot adopt year-round daylight saving time without federal consent.
• The US House of Representatives voted 308-117 on the Sunshine Protection Act (H.R. 139), introduced by Representative Vern Buchanan, but the bill still awaits Senate action and the President's signature.
• All 19 state laws contain contingent clauses and cannot take effect until the federal government updates national time zone regulations; some states, including Delaware and Oregon, require neighboring states to adopt similar legislation first.