Clocks "spring forward" this weekend

DAVENPORT – Another sign that winter is drawing to a close comes Sunday, March 14 at 2 a.m., when Daylight Savings Time (DST) arrives and the clocks advance an hour to preserve more daylight at the end of the day.

And yes, that means an hour of sleep is lost, not gained.

48 states observe DST, with the exceptions being Arizona and Hawaii. However, the Navajo nation in Arizona does observe DST.

Benjamin Franklin and William Willett were the original thinkers of DST, but the United States didn’t implement summer daylight savings time until World War I, according to a law review by Steve P. Calandrillo and Dustin E. Buehler. The U.S.A. also tried out year-round DST during World War II and the oil embargoes in the 1970s and most recently “extended the period of observance” in 2007.

Since 2015, there have been some in government who want to introduce year-round DST, including Florida senator Marco Rubio, who introduced the Sunshine Protection Act in 2019 to do away with DST. Washington State Legislature passed Substitute House Bill 1196 for year-round observation of DST, but federal Congress must amend federal law to give such authorization to the states. California, Oregon, Tennesee, Nevada and Florida legislatures and voters have approved similar bills and resolutions.