Florida passed a permanent Daylight Saving Time bill. But Congress probably won't.
The switch between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time each year is miserable.
It messes with our circadian rhythms. Studies show it leads to more heart attacks and strokes and depression.
About the only consolation is that this Sunday, you get to roll back your clock and get an extra hour of sleep — but one study found the change is so disruptive that you'll end up with a net loss of sleep for the week.
Didn't the Florida Legislature get rid of this?
It did, but, like seemingly everything else, Congress ruined it.
Lawmakers in Tallahassee passed a bill in the spring that would make Florida the first state to make Daylight Saving Time year-round, meaning it would enjoy the later sunsets (and later sunrises) 365 days a year. And, of course, you wouldn't have to change your clocks twice a year.
But to make it reality, Congress needed to approve it. And that's where it appears dead in the water.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio happily picked up the Legislature's baton in March, introducing two bills that would make the Florida's change permanent.
Both have languished, however, against opposition from broadcasters, parent-teacher organizations and others.
It's a sharp turnaround from earlier this year, when the idea of more sunshine in the Sunshine State sailed through the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support and virtually no opposition from industry groups.
"Just like motherhood and apple pie, who’s going to say they don’t like it?" said Pat Roberts, president of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, which did not take a position on the state bill. "Unless you stop and go Whoa, we don’t want to be different from New York and Boston and Atlanta."
Roberts said that various industries, including his, have hit the brakes on the idea in Washington.
If Florida shifted an hour ahead of the East Coast for half the year, it would dramatically affect networks and viewers. The 11 o'clock news would be on at midnight. Late-night shows would start at 12:30. And the combination of an aging network audience and later show times would be a blow to stations across the state.
"The finance world isn’t too excited about it, either, and neither are the airlines," Roberts added.
If the whole country shifted to permanent daylight saving, the industry would be on board "100 percent."
"But I don’t think it’s going to happen," Roberts said.
Rubio introduced two bills to get Florida on permanent daylight saving. One would make it permanent around the country. The other would merely allow Florida alone to adopt it.
Neither have been heard in the the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, where Rubio's counterpart, Sen. Bill Nelson, is the ranking Democrat.
Where Nelson stands on the bills is unclear. His spokesman did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
But Nelson's opponent in next week's election supports them. Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the Legislature's bill into law this year, would vote for at least one of the bills if he replaces Nelson, his spokesman said.
"He’d need to review the federal companion bill fully, but Governor Scott obviously supports the bill he signed," Scott spokesman Chris Hartline said.
If neither bill passes in this Congress, Rubio's spokeswoman says he'll introduce them again next year.
The origins of daylight saving go back 100 years, to World War 1, when the U.S. briefly copied Germany's idea to push back clocks an hour to save money on electricity.
The idea became permanent in 1966, when Congress standardized the "spring forward, fall back" dates and times that we know today. Congress allowed states to opt out of it — and some, like Arizona, did — but it did not allow any states to make daylight saving permanent.
The idea of making the days longer year-round came from state Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, who introduced the bill in the Legislature this year after hearing people in his barbershop complain about how the time changes made it tougher to get their kids to school.
The retail and tourism industries immediately supported his idea, with the extra hour of daylight allowing shoppers and visitors to spend more money.
There are other practical benefits. The U.S. Department of Transportation says it prevents traffic crashes, since more people are driving during daylight. A Brookings Institution study says it prevents robberies, since people are no longer leaving work during the dark.
If Florida adopted it, on the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, sunrise in Florida would be at about 8 a.m. and sunset would be at about 6:30 p.m., rather than of 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
And, simply, people hate the time changes, according to polls. Russia ended its daylight saving in 2014. On Sunday, Europeans, changed their clocks back to standard time, possibly for the last time.
Steube said he did hear concerns from companies who do business with Alabama and Georgia, since Florida would be ahead by an hour half of the year. And school officials have expressed concerned that children would be going to school in the dark.
He understands the concerns, but says that he expects other states to get on board with Florida. And with many schools starting at 7:30 a.m. or earlier, many students already go to school in the dark during parts of the year.
There is, of course, a simple solution that would eliminate the time changes: Florida could simply not practice daylight saving in the summer.
But Steube, who's now running for Congress, said he'd rather have the daylight later and longer, and he would introduce a bill in the House of Representatives if elected.
"There’s no real reason in today’s world that we need it," Steube said.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Langston Taylor and Miami Herald reporter Alex Daugherty contributed to this report.
