The Rise and Fall of Daylight Saving Time: An Insight from a Long-term Supporter of the Campaign of Abraham Lincoln Filene
Millions of Americans want to abandon the time change we endure twice each year, disrupting our circadian rhythms and creating confusion. More than a third of U.S. states now back a permanent shift to daylight saving time. Businesses have been praising the plan for more than 100 years, if that happens.
When it came to energy efficiency, shifting the clocks during the months that get the most sunlight was promoted for a long time. Congress passed an energy bill in 2005 to expand DST.
It turns out that businesses supported the annual Daylight Saving Time event, according to Michael Downing, who authored Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.
During the first half of the 20th century, Abraham Lincoln Filene, the owner of Filene’s Department Stores, was one of the most influential supporters of daylight saving.
“They understood something very early on: If you give workers daylight, when they leave their jobs, they are much more apt to stop and shop on their way home.”
DelawareLegislators passed a bill that would make the state an Atlantic Standard Time zone if other states in the area also adopted daylight saving time.
None of those states can act without an act of Congress — and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has repeatedly introduced legislation to do that. The Senate approved his act, but he is still waiting for the House to act.
The American Daylight Saving Time Act of March 4th, 2020: A Model of a Better Day in the Park of the Nights?
Daylight saving time will control the clock for 34 weeks in the year of 2022, keeping ” standard time” in effect for a small portion of the year. That’s a far cry from the original law, which divided the year in half.
Then in 2005, Congress moved the start date one month earlier in the spring and pushed it one week later in the fall. In 2007, the longer time frame took effect.
America’s idea of saving energy by people not lighting up as much is flawed, because we now have more ways to consume energy, including running air conditioning and TVs at home. We consume more gas when we drive around to enjoy the bonus hour.
The Democratic-led House did not pick up the measure, despite the fact that the clocks are about to be turned back. It is not likely to do so in the last few days of the year following the mid term elections.
The US is not alone in observing Daylight Saving Time. Around the world, seven other countries do too. Daylight saving time can be observed on the last Sunday of March and last Sunday of October in Britain, France and Germany.
The idea is up for debate. But in a 1784 letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, Benjamin Franklin suggested that Parisians could save money by getting up earlier during the summer because they would then have to light fewer candles in the evening.
The Sunshine Protection Act is still waiting in Maine, but isn’t changing Malheur in the next two years: The Oregon Legislature voted to make daylight saving year-round
The Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving permanent for the entire nation, remains stalled in Congress. The breakdown from the National Conference of State Legislatures shows which states are getting ready for the bill’s passage.
After a bill that would have pushed the state’s clock forward one hour by switching to Atlantic Standard Time failed in 2017, it didn’t seem likely that the state would make a change.
Until two years later, when the Maine legislature passed a bill stating that it would immediately adopt daylight saving time year-round, so long as the federal government approves it.
The Oregon legislature passed a bill making daylight saving time year-round. Malheur would not be included in the change since it is in a different time zone than the rest of the state.