The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday, moving the country a step closer to ending the biannual changing of clocks. The legislation, which passed by a vote of 308-117, aims to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide. The bill now advances to the Senate for consideration.
The legislation was introduced by Representative Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and is led in the Senate by Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.). If enacted into law, the bill would allow states to remain on daylight saving time year-round rather than switching back and forth between standard time and daylight saving time.
Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.), a cosponsor of the federal bill, has advocated for the change since serving in the Florida Legislature. In 2018, Steube sponsored a state-level version of the Sunshine Protection Act, which was signed into law by then-Governor Rick Scott.
However, Florida and other states with similar legislation cannot implement permanent daylight saving time without an act of Congress. To move the stalled federal bill to the House floor, Steube filed a discharge petition in November 2024.
Steube traced his involvement with the issue back to a conversation eight years ago.
“This vote has been years in the making. In 2018, I was in a barbershop in Manatee County right after we changed our clocks, and I heard an entire room of Floridians frustrated about losing daylight in the evening,” Steube said. “That conversation led me to introduce the Sunshine Protection Act in the Florida State Senate. We passed it that year and Governor Rick Scott signed it into law, but Florida couldn’t implement it until Congress acted. Now, after years of work, Congress finally gave Floridians and Americans across the country the vote we’ve been waiting for. It’s time to lock the clock!”
The bill must now be taken up and passed by the Senate before it can be sent to the president to be signed into law.
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