When we change the clocks…we say goodbye to sunlight

Woe is me. I always get depressed when it’s time to “fall back” and go off Daylight Saving Time.

 

This year it’s even worse, because the switch-over date is Sunday, Nov. 1, the “earliest date it can possibly be,” according to Addy Bink, a reporter with The Hill, a digital newspaper in Washington, D.C., owned by Nexstar Media Group.

 

Federal law specifies that we go back to Standard Time on the first Sunday in November.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives convincingly passed the Sunshine Protection Act in July 2026, sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), to make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent. 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) championed the bill in the U.S. Senate, but certain Republican members of the Senate have been dragging their feet in bringing the bill to the floor.

 

Now, members of Congress aren’t even in town. Both chambers are in adjournment for the midterm election. Senators are not scheduled to return to the Capitol until the week of Nov. 9. 

Swell. Clocks will have already fallen back by the time the lawmakers show up. Hope they’re well-rested.

Bink reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has his doubts that the Sunshine Protection Act can reach the required 60-vote threshold needed to pass. (The Sunshine Protection Act needs 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to overcome a potential filibuster and invoke cloture – to end debate and move the bill to a final floor vote).

 

Personally, Sen. Thune is not especially interested in pushing the bill forward; he even voted against it in committee.

Opponents argue that with permanent DST, some areas of the country would be experiencing “later sunrises.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is in that camp. He has stated that during the winter: “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.”

 

Which time of day during the winter is it “more safe” for students to be traveling to and from school? Pick your darkness: Early morning or late afternoon.

 

School start hours could and should be adjustable. It’s not rocket science.

Proponents of permanent DST say schools could just start later, said Lexi Lonas Cochran, who covers education for The Hill. She said there is already a national movement to “start schools later to allow kids to get healthy sleep.”

 

“A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review of 38 studies regarding school start times found that in schools that begin at 8:30 a.m. or later, students get better sleep, academic performance increases, attendance goes up and students engage in less risky behavior,” Cochran said.

 

Parents’ work schedules, after-school activities and sports all factor into making workable school schedules, Cochran said.

One Midwestern high school principal told Cochran that America’s educational bureaucracy is especially rigid when it comes to scheduling.

It can’t be solved “with a flick of a switch or a turn of a page, if you will. There’s a lot of ramifications for changing the school start time,” he said.

They should be able to manage and work it out. DST forever.

Keep your eye on Canada. Addy Brink reports that fewer clocks across Canada will be falling back on Nov. 1.

 

She said six western provinces are no longer going to observe seasonal time change, effective this year. The provincial leaders based their decision on surveys of their residents.

Four have opted to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. They are: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.

Two are going to stay on Standard Time year-round. They are Saskatchewan and Yukon.