Not everyone supports permanent daylight saving time. Here’s why

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(NEXSTAR) – The U.S. is the closest it’s been in years to observing year-round daylight saving time after the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday. Not everyone is thrilled.

Under the bill, states that do not exempt themselves would lock their clocks on daylight saving time all year. The bill still needs to pass through the Senate, where it was referred to the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Wednesday.

President Trump has already expressed support for the Sunshine Protection Act.

“We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in November.

However, days would not exactly get longer (when we experience daylight would change, though), and several groups are against permanent daylight saving time.

Experts warn of health consequences

Many health experts agree that if we’re going to stop changing the clocks, it should be on permanent standard time. It largely has to do with when we have the most daylight. During daylight saving time, there is more daylight in the evening. During standard time, there’s more daylight in the morning.

The increased light exposure in the morning is better for our sleep and circadian rhythm, health professionals argue. Studies have found relationships between sleep and circadian rhythm deprivation to mental health problems, drug use, speeding, delinquent behaviors, educational performance and employment salaries. Permanent standard time could even result in a decrease in suicide rates, according to another study.

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Researchers at Stanford Medicine found that, overall, Americans could be healthier if we ditched daylight saving time altogether. For example, their models determined that switching to permanent standard time could result in fewer people being diagnosed with obesity and fewer stroke cases annually. Permanent daylight saving time, on the other hand, would result in roughly two-thirds of the same benefits that permanent standard time was determined to provide, potentially.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the National Sleep Foundation, Save Standard Time, American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST), the Society for Research in Biological Rhythms (SRBR) and the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time all recently endorsed a bill to make standard time permanent in the U.S.

Impacts on practicing religion

After the House’s passing of the Sunshine Protection Act, Agudath Israel of America issued a statement warning of the “unintended, yet compelling, consequence of such legislation” on the Orthodox Jewish community’s “fundamental religious practices.”

Morning prayers and associated rituals cannot occur before certain times of the day, Rabbi A. D. Motzen, the national director of government affairs of Agudath Israel, recently explained to Nexstar. This means the earliest services are generally held just before sunrise.

“The consequence of these requirements is self-evident: the later sunrise occurs; the later synagogue services must begin,” Motzen said. “Given the length of morning prayer services, together with the length of the average commute to the workplace, it would be extraordinarily difficult — if not impossible — to arrive to work on time. Alternatively, synagogues in affected cities would struggle to find a quorum for the daily services.”

Unlike other groups, Motzen said Agudath Israel isn’t advocating for clocks to lock on permanent standard time, either. Instead, they’re asking that lawmakers consider the effects of permanent daylight saving time in comparison with permanent standard time or leaving clocks as they are.

Agudath Israel has also pointed to another aspect of permanent daylight saving time that influenced its short life in the 1970s: the safety of schoolchildren.

Why permanent daylight saving time fizzled before

Amid a national energy crisis, the U.S. observed year-round daylight saving time in 1973. Initially, it was well received, sporting an 80% approval rating in December of that year.

However, by the following February, support for the move had fallen to 42%.

The drop seemed to be at least partially fueled by parents, who were sending their children to school in the dark, armed with flashlights. In some areas, the sun would not rise until nearly 9 a.m. There were multiple incidents nationwide of children being struck by vehicles while on their way to school, including eight fatalities in Florida.

While there was no clear evidence connecting traffic accidents to year-round daylight saving time, the U.S. reverted back to the twice-a-year changing of the clocks by October 1974. Things have been largely unchanged since.

Will daylight saving time become permanent in the US?

It’s difficult to say when, if ever, the Senate will pick up the Sunshine Protection Act. Efforts by the Senate to fast-track its version were thwarted.

Congress is also considering two bills in the House that would give states the option to observe year-round daylight saving time, a bill to make half-daylight saving time permanent and a newly introduced bill to make standard time permanent, with exceptions.

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