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SALT LAKE CITY — Americans will collectively go back in time this Sunday morning when Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m.
So, don’t be an hour early for your church service or turn on that football game way too soon — set your clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night (unless you use a smartphone as an alarm, in which case the phone will handle things for you).
Though there’s ample debate about whether Daylight Saving Time even needs to exist, and it has been linked to various declines in health and productivity, the November “falling back” is certainly the more manageable of the two annual time changes.
Many experts recommend that Americans use the extra hour to get more sleep.
Both state and federal politicians have introduced legislation to move to year-round Daylight Saving Time. While some states have enacted such legislation on their own, federal law would have to change before they go into effect. Currently, states can only choose to observe Daylight Saving Time or not — they do not have the option of staying on Daylight Saving Time year-round.
Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
On the KSL Morning News radio show with Amanda Dickson and Tim Hughes, Rep. Rob Bishop discussed congressional efforts to give states more flexibility with time zone decisions.
"There's not a logical reason" states can stay on Standard Time but not Daylight Time, Bishop said. "That's one of the reasons we're saying, 'Give states the opportunity of doing what they wish to do.' There needs to be a standard time zone, but if you're giving them an option of one, give them the option of all three" — Standard Time, Daylight Time or going back and forth, he said.
Bishop said his Daylight Act has attracted a wide range of bipartisan supporters in Congress, and dismissed concerns about added confusion should states be given the additional time option.
"You have that (confusion) right now," he said, citing Arizona's difference from the rest of its time zone and states that are in more than one time zone, like Indiana and Florida. "So, yeah, there can be a confusion, but we've got that right now. That doesn't change anything."
Utah state Rep. Marsha Judkins, R-Provo, said there is "absolutely no appetite" for moving the state to year-round Standard Time, which is why she is trying to move Utah to year-round Daylight Saving Time pending federal approval.
"A lot of that is because of pushback from ... people who want to have more time after their jobs with their families, or industries that would prefer to stay open later and have more light," Judkins said. "And so that's just a no-go."
Daylight Saving Time will resume on March 8, 2020.
