Get ready...daylight savings time is about to begin. When do we 'spring forward' in Cook County?
Mar 06, 2024 09:14AM ● By Content Editor
By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - March 6, 2024
This year, daylight savings time begins on Sunday, March 10, at 2 a.m. This is when those of us in Cook County (and most of the US) will set our clocks forward one hour, and yes, lose an hour of precious sleep.
Daylight savings time will end Sunday, November 3, 2024, at 2 a.m., when we will gain that hour of sleep back.
How did daylight savings time originate?
The origins of daylight savings time have been pinpointed back to New Zealand in the 1800s (although not actually practiced until the 1920s).
In the United States, the ‘Standard Time Act’ was introduced and became law in March 1918, which instated daylight savings time year-round as a way to conserve energy during WWI. This bill was also responsible for the creation of the current time zones across the country.
After the war, Congress ended year-round daylight savings time, and it wasn’t until WWII that it was reinstated. The purpose this time around was similar to the first: to converse energy and fuel, and promote national security and defense. According to the US Department of Defense, this earned daylight savings time the nickname ‘War Time’.
This instance of year-round daylight savings times ended in 1945, and the control went back to the states.
The US Department of Defense reports that the next 20 years were confusing and chaotic for specific federal industries (airlines, delivery, media) that rely on time across multiple states - all of which may have different time zones.
It wasn’t until 1966 that Congress took back control of daylight savings time with the Uniform Time Act, which set daylight savings time into place across the nation.
There was one more instance where year-round daylight savings time was tested, which was during an energy crisis in 1974.
Since then, the only change to the practice was in 2005, when then-President George Bush extended daylight savings time by a few weeks.
States have the option to opt-out, as Hawaii and Arizona have done (one exception is the Navajo Nation in NE Arizona, which follows daylight savings time).
A call for permanent change
Within the last 10 years, 45 states have urged Congress to permanently change daylight savings time, including Minnesota. Congress is the only entity that can make that change.
Most people are in favor of ending the time change throughout the year. In the last decade, research has shown that changing our clocks can have negative effects on our health, and cause an increase in car accidents.
In March of 2022, Senator Mark Rubio introduced a bill titled the ‘Sunshine Protection Act’, which aimed to make daylight savings time permanent year-round. The bill was unanimously passed in the Senate but was not reviewed by the House before the end of the legislative session.
In March 2023, 12 Senators reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which moved to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.. No updates or reintroductions have been made since.Similar legislation was introduced by Florida Representative Vern Buchanan, which was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce. Both bills would need to pass the House and Senate before landing on President Joe Biden's desk for a signature. No additional progress has been made since 2023 on that legislation as well.
If either bill passes and is signed into law, it will likely take over a year for the change to take effect. This is because some industries (ex: airlines) have flights and other events planned out in advance.
