After enduring months of long, dark — and, in Southern California, rather moderate — winter evenings, some residents will rejoice at the extra hour of daylight arriving Sunday, while others will mourn their lost hour of sleep.
Generally speaking, the twice-a-year daylight saving time clock changes are unpopular. Research shows most Americans favor ditching the practice, but are divided on which time system should stick. But for now, Californians will all move their clocks forward an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday.
A mere 12% of Americans actively favor the sundial shuffle, 47% are opposed and 40% are neutral, according to a 2025 poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
A 2025 Gallup poll found that the majority of Americans say they are ready to do away with the time shift, with 48% preferring standard time year round and 24% preferring daylight saving year round.
In 2018, California voters passed Proposition 7, allowing the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if federal law permits. Nineteen states have adopted similar legislation aimed at ending the twice-yearly clock change, but these measures cannot take effect without congressional action.
Over the course of the last decade, dozens of bills have been introduced in Congress seeking to make daylight saving time permanent. However, legislation has stalled — largely because lawmakers cannot come to a consensus on what should replace the time switch.
Many lawmakers support permanent daylight saving time because it gives people later sunsets. Some research suggests the “spring forward” is also correlated with a bump in credit card spending.
However, sleep scientists and medical groups generally argue in favor of permanent standard time, saying it better aligns with human circadian rhythms and reduces health risks. Research has linked the March spring forward in time to short-term increases in traffic accidents, heart attacks and strokes.
Daylight saving time was originally implemented by Congress in 1918 as the U.S. entered World War I, then reversed just two years later.
In 1942, Congress made daylight saving time permanent year-round to conserve fuel during World War II. In 1945, that measure was repealed, and states were allowed to choose how they would observe daylight saving and standard time.
Congress amended the law in 1986 to begin daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April and end it on the last Sunday of October. Finally, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 tweaked the timing to make daylight saving time begin on the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November — a system that has held ever since.
Even though public frustration with clock changes is high, the issue has repeatedly fallen behind higher-stakes legislative fights involving budgets, defense, immigration and taxes.
In 2022, the federal Sunshine Protection Act to make daylight saving permanent did manage to pass the Senate, but later stalled and died in the House.
President Trump in 2025 urged Congress to make daylight saving time permanent, calling the twice-yearly clock changes a “big inconvenience” and “very costly” in a social media statement.
Current federal law does not permit making daylight saving permanent, but it does allow states to opt into permanent standard time — which only Arizona and Hawaii have done.
California state Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) recently introduced Senate Bill 1197, which would make it standard time year-round in the Golden State. He introduced a similar bill last year, which died in session.
At the federal level, Rep. Gregory W. Steube (R-Florida) is trying a somewhat creative approach to get a time-change bill passed. He has introduced HR 7378, which proposes splitting the difference by permanently sliding the clock forward a half hour and stopping the twice-annual time change.
Will either of these efforts succeed? Time will tell, but for now Californians — and most of America — are stuck doing the same old clock-face conga on Sunday.
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