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‘Half-daylight saving time’ could become permanent under new bill

(NEXSTAR) – While most of the daylight saving time-related bills in Congress have focused on locking the clocks an hour ahead of standard time, a newly introduced piece of legislation is taking half that approach. 

The Daylight Act of 2026, introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) earlier this month, calls for our clocks to slide forward a half hour from where they are now, and for the twice-annual clock changes to end. 

Though losing a half-hour of sleep would be less harmful than a whole hour, setting our clocks forward at all is still less desirable for our health in the long run, experts say. 

“Medically, a half hour delay would be less harmful than a full hour delay of permanent daylight saving time and would have the benefit of ending the biannual change,” Dr. Karin Johnson, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and co-chair of the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time, told Nexstar via email. 

However, Johnson added, it would still lead to fewer morning hours of daylight, which health experts agree is better for us. Permanent standard time would also prevent “the confusion of trying to sync schedules that are offset by a half hour,” she said.

Jay Pea, president of the non-profit Save Standard Time, concurred, explaining, “the design of Standard Time (when aligned properly to longitude) is to minimize misalignment between clocks and the sun to within 30 minutes or fewer.”

Pea pointed to the “unintended complications for technology, transportation, and business.”

That would be especially true for international services. Time zones apply to the entire globe, not just the U.S. If it’s 3 p.m. in New York City, it’s also 3 p.m. in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Lima, Peru.

While the time zones can have different names – Eastern Time in New York and Quebec, Peru Time in Lima – they’re based on their relation to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). That’s the world-wide, 24-hour clock known as Zulu time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Eastern and Peru Times are -5 UTC, or five hours behind Greenwich, outside of London, where our modern time zones were established in the mid 1800s.

Generally, time zones are split up by an hour – Central Time is one hour behind Eastern Time, and so on. There are, however, cases in which the time zone is an hour and a half different. Afghanistan, for example, operates under Afghanistan Time, which is +4.5 UTC. When it’s 3 p.m. in New York, it’s 12:30 a.m. in Kabul. Iran runs on a similar time zone, but an hour behind Afghanistan (it’s 11:30 p.m. when it’s 3 p.m. in New York).

“I appreciate the congressman’s willingness to explore alternatives to [permanent daylight saving time]. However, [permanent standard time] remains both the simplest solution and the true compromise between ‘fast’ and ‘slow time,’ as supported by health science, historical precedence, and first principles,” Pea said, in part, in a statement to Nexstar.

Steube’s fellow Florida lawmakers are already hoping to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent in the U.S. Should this legislation pass, we would “spring forward” in March and stop changing the clocks. 

Last year, Steube expressed support for making daylight saving time permanent, writing on X that “it’s time to end this pointless ritual.” In November, he filed a discharge petition for the House version of the Sunshine Protection Act to be put on the floor for a vote. 

The Senate tried last year to fast-track its version of the Sunshine Protection Act in October, only for the effort to be thwarted.

Steube’s office did not return Nexstar’s request for comment before publishing.

As of Tuesday, the bill remains in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

Another so-called Daylight Act, introduced by Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT), was also referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. That bill would allow states the power to observe daylight saving time year-round.

Lawmakers in several states are considering daylight saving time-related bills already this year.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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