The dark side of making daylight saving time permanent in California: How late would our sunrises get?
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The move by lawmakers to make daylight saving time permanent has a dark side — sunless winter mornings.
But just how late would the new legislation push sunrise in California?
Were Congress to adopt permanent daylight saving time year-round, eliminating the need to change the clocks twice a year, Los Angeles would see its latest sunrise of the year at 8 a.m.
Sacramento would see sunrise as late as 8:24 a.m., and San Francisco, 8:25 a.m. Crescent City, on the northwestern tip of California? A sunrise of 8:44 a.m.
Other parts of the country would also see sunrises in the winter that would have children who start school at 8 a.m. possibly going to campus in the dark. With permanent daylight saving time, the latest sunrise for Miami would be 8:09 a.m.; Boston, 8:13 a.m.; Chicago and Houston, 8:18 a.m.; New York City, 8:20 a.m.; Philadelphia, 8:23 a.m.; Washington, 8:27 a.m.; Dallas, 8:30 a.m.; Atlanta, 8:43 a.m.; Minneapolis, 8:51 a.m.; Seattle, 8:58 a.m.; and Detroit, 9:02 a.m.
Some areas would see an even later sunrise. The capital of North Dakota, Bismarck, and Glacier National Park in Montana would see a sunrise of 9:28 a.m.
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Surrendering an hour of sunlight in the morning, of course, means getting it back in the evenings.
The benefit of year-round daylight saving time would be 5:44 p.m. sunsets shortly after Thanksgiving for Los Angeles — a delight for Angelenos unhappy with 4:44 p.m. sunsets as winter approaches. San Francisco would see its earliest sunsets at 5:51 p.m. in late November and early December, where it’s now 4:51 p.m. on standard time.
New York City would see its earliest sunset at 5:28 p.m. on year-round daylight saving time, instead of 4:28 p.m.
The debate over permanent daylight saving time is an old one but has been reinvigorated with the House of Representatives’ vote last week, a bipartisan 308 to 117, for a measure to make year-round daylight saving time the default for much of the nation. Areas that already do not observe daylight saving time — such as Hawaii and most of Arizona — would be able to stay on permanent standard time.
The House approved a bill that would put an end to the annual clock-switching practiced in most states. California and other states could opt out if the measure becomes law.
The bill’s sponsor in the Senate, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), called changing clocks twice a year an unnecessary annoyance.
“I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year — it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families,” Scott said in a statement. “Even just an extra hour in the evening means more time to play with your kids.”
It’s an idea that has come up before. What was called winter daylight saving time was briefly enacted in 1974. But it became unpopular, and Congress returned to standard time later that year. “Daylight saving time is generally popular with the public, but not in the winter months of November through February,” a House report said in 1974. Among the concerns were that schools had to delay the start of classes “because of the problems of dark mornings.”
The Los Angeles Times reported in 1974 that crossing guards at many L.A. County schools had to be issued flashlights to help children on their way to school.
Of the 51 current members of the House from California — there is one vacancy — 42 backed year-round daylight saving time, namely, 33 Democrats, all eight Republicans and one independent. Of the nine who opposed the measure, all were Democrats — Nanette Diaz Barragán, Judy Chu, Mark DeSaulnier, Jimmy Gomez, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Sam Liccardo, Ted Lieu, Zoe Lofgren and Mark Takano.
‘The Senate should stop using agriculture as an excuse to preserve an outdated time system and finally move toward permanent daylight saving time,’ writes an L.A. Times reader.
It’s not clear, however, that there’s enough support in the Senate for the measure to pass.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has expressed opposition to fiddling with the current system.
“By moving the clock back an hour in winter, permanent daylight savings time would push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour, depriving Americans of morning sunshine that’s essential for our safety and well-being,” Cotton said last year. He said he would oppose any effort to adopt daylight saving year-round.
Under the House-approved bill, lawmakers in California and other states could opt out of making daylight saving time permanent but would need to decide before the law took effect. In 2018, California voters approved Proposition 7, which gave the Legislature the authority to impose year-round daylight saving time — but only if the federal government allowed states to do so. Current federal law prohibits states from implementing year-round daylight saving time.
Proposition 7 passed with a substantial majority, with 60% voting in favor of the proposal.
“Americans are sick of falling back and springing forward. More daylight after work means more business and more active, safer California communities,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said in a statement last year. “Californians already voted years ago to lock the clock — and it’s past time for Congress to do the same.”
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President Trump has said he would sign permanent daylight saving time into law if passed by Congress.
One place that recently adopted permanent daylight saving time is British Columbia.
The Canadian province said that it was permanently moving to year-round daylight saving time in March and would not turn back the clocks to standard time in November. As a result, Vancouver’s latest sunrise will be at 9:07 a.m., but in return, its earliest sunset will be at 5:13 p.m. instead of 4:13 p.m.
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An alternate idea would be to keep California on permanent standard time, which is allowed under federal law. But that would mean saying farewell to daylight during California’s late summer days.
This year, thanks to daylight saving time, Los Angeles is seeing sunsets at 8 p.m. or later from June 1 to July 25. Permanent standard time would make it so Los Angeles’ latest sunset of the year would be at 7:09 p.m.
In San Francisco this year, sunsets at 8 p.m. or later occur from May 1 through Aug. 17. Permanent standard time would make San Francisco’s latest sunset of the year at 7:36 p.m.
Mexico ended daylight saving time in 2022 in most of the country, choosing to remain with standard time for the entire year. But some border cities, as well as Baja California, observe daylight saving time.
Areas of the world where daylight saving time is most common is North America and Europe. But the practice of switching clocks twice a year is uncommon elsewhere across the world, according to the Pew Research Center.
In 2018, there was a proposal for the European Union to end the practice of changing clocks twice a year to switch between standard time and daylight saving time. No final decision has been made.
Times staff writer Iris Kwok contributed to this report.
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