State Proposals to Change Daylight Saving Time Observance

Summary

State Proposals to Change Daylight Saving Time Observance

Daylight saving time (DST) is a period of the year between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time (ST). The United States first adopted DST in 1918. DST begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. The beginning and end dates are set in statute (15 U.S.C. §260a).

Congressional interest in the potential benefits and costs of DST has resulted in changes to DST observance (including changes to its start and end dates, periods of temporary year-round DST, and periods of no federal DST observance). Though the authority to change DST observance rests solely with Congress, since 2015, a majority of states have had legislation introduced to change the observance of DST—seeking to establish either DST or ST year round. State-enacted permanent DST would go into effect if and when such action is allowed by Congress.

Forty-seven states and DC have had legislation introduced proposing some variation of permanent year-round DST.

* Introduced permanent DST

* Enacted permanent DST (19 states)

* Adopted nonbinding resolution in support of permanent DST

* No DST legislation introduced

Forty-two states have had legislation introduced to establish permanent year-round ST. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 as amended (15 U.S.C. §§260-267) allows states to exempt themselves from observing DST.

* Introduced permanent ST

* No ST legislation introduced

* Observes permanent ST

Sources: State legislation information from Lexis Advance "Statutes and Legislation" database; state legislature websites/databases; National Council of State Legislature's Daylight Saving Time | State Legislation resource; CQ.com's Policy Note database.

Notes: American Samoa, most of Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not observe DST. CRS identified introduced legislation from January 2015 to August 2026 that would amend time observance; in this search, CRS did not identify any introduced legislation for the U.S. territories that would amend time observance.

For more information, see CRS Report R45208, Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Information as of October 19, 2026. Prepared by Corrie E. Clark, Specialist in Energy Policy; Lynn J. Cunningham, Senior Research Librarian; Cassandra E. Higgins, Geospatial Information Systems Analyst; and Amber Wilhelm, Visual Information Specialist.

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