An image of a clock is displayed beside a list of bills under consideration at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on the last night of the legislative session, Friday, March 1, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
The ritual of moving clocks forward or back by an hour depending on the season may see an end in Utah if a state bill becomes law.
Ahead of the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers are exploring a path to choosing a time standard and sticking with it year round. That’s according to HB120, a bill introduced by Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Toquerville.
If approved, beginning on Jan. 1, 2026, Utah would observe Mountain Standard Time all year until federal legislation allows the state to observe Mountain Daylight Time year-round. This, Elison said, came following frequent requests from constituents.
“When the clocks are about to change, people constantly ask me ‘please run legislation to stop the clocks from changing,’” Elison said.
In 2020, the Legislature approved a bill from Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville, which authorized Utah to observe daylight saving time — the time used in the summer, when residents advance their clocks by an hour — all year. That would have become effective if Congress had passed federal legislation allowing it, or if other surrounding states approved similar laws.
But, Congress hasn’t approved any bills authorizing a change, meaning Utahns keep having to change their clocks, since states aren’t allowed to observe daylight saving hours all year.
“What we do have in our control as a state is we can pass legislation that would allow us to move to regular standard time on our own,” Elison said. That’s what Arizona and Hawaii currently do. “That way we can not move our clocks.”
The bill also says that if the federal government were to pass a law allowing everyone to observe daylight saving time year-round, the state would make the switch and stick with it.
“But in the meantime, we would be on standard time and stay on standard time,” Elison said.
Elison believes the bill has enough support to pass in the House. However, he said the Senate may be a challenge.
“If I were to bet on it today, I can’t really say whether the Senate would find it favorable or not,” he said. “I have talked to a couple of senators. I’ve gotten mixed messages, but the bottom line is, Utahns want it and that’s what’s important.”
There are cases for both standard and daylight saving times to become the year-long options for Americans. Utah Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy, for example, introduced The Daylight Act in the U.S. House last year, aiming to make the summer hours permanent citing less crime, lower energy bills, increased economic activity, reduced health risks and fewer car crashes, according to a news release. The bill hasn’t been voted on.
“Americans are tired of springing forward and losing sleep and falling back and losing sunlight. Dozens of states, including Utah, have already passed laws to make Daylight Saving Time permanent,” Maloy said then. “The federal government needs to get out of the way and allow them to make that choice instead of mandating the needless practice of changing our clocks twice a year.”
This year, Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott is leading a bill to “lock the clock” in its daylight saving time setting, he said in a news release.
“I’m excited to have President Trump back in the White House and fully on board to LOCK THE CLOCK so we can get this good bill passed and make this common-sense change that will simplify and benefit the lives of American families,” Scott said in the release.
Trump, however, recently vowed to end daylight saving time.
“Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our nation,” he said in December in Truth Social.
While Elison’s preference is standard time, he said his bill isn’t necessarily trying to argue which schedule is better, but just stopping the clock hands from moving back and forth twice a year.
“If anybody has ever been a parent, it’s a huge adjustment with your children,” he said, explaining that kids often struggle at school for a few days after the time changes. “And it’s kind of ancient news. It’s not something that we need to do anymore. The reasons for what we were told why they did it in the first place — we’re in the 21st century now — don’t apply anymore.”
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