When Will Louisiana Ever Stop Observing Daylight Saving Time?
Though no one in a position of power has formally asked my opinion on the matter, I still contend that "we should just pick a time and stick with it."
That's how I feel in regards to the argument about our bi-annual time change from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time and vice versa.
And it would appear that my sentiments mirror the majority of Americans. A poll conducted by YouGov shows that 59% of Americans would like for Daylight Saving Time to stay permanent.
Daylight Saving Time is set to begin again on Sunday, March 10 and will run through November 3 when, in spite of American sentiment, it would appear that we will again go through the process of changing the time on all the clocks in the house.
As you well know by now, we "spring forward" in the Spring; meaning that at exactly 2:00 am on March 10, time will magically jump to 3:00 am, thus losing an hour of slumber for the most of us.
However, the nagging question remains, "Why are we doing this? Didn't Congress vote to stop it?"
That answer is a little convoluted. Yes, in the Spring of 2022, the United States Senate unanimously voted to pass a Senate bill called the Sunshine Protection Act.
That legislation would have made last year's time change on March 12 the last time we would ever have to set our clocks forward. Essentially, once the clocks were set, we would remain on Daylight Saving Time permanently.
It Passed Unanimously By The Senate; But What Happened In The House?
Though the legislation passed in the Senate, the House of Representatives, who did hold a hearing regarding the Act, never actually voted on it, so it's just out there, looming in the darkness of the "No Way We Can Find A Way To Pad Our Pockets With This So It's Not Worth Our Time" political black hole.
We do know that Louisiana did get proactive with the possibility and passed a bill that would make it legal to stop the time changes on a state level if the legislation passed on a Federal level.
It's got to be one of the first times our state has actually outrun the Feds, but I was happy to see them act accordingly, even if it appears it was for naught.
With that sobering thought in mind, just prepare yourself to make the changes again next month, and in all likelihood, again this Fall.
Many wonder that if there's a change in the White House, status quo on this issue could change as early as the Spring of 2025, but we probably shouldn't hold our breath for it.