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(NEXSTAR) – Legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent in the U.S. has gained traction in recent weeks, causing concern among those some, even though they agree the clock-changing is annoying.
Last month, the language of the Sunshine Protection Act was included in a larger transportation funding package that passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is bound for the full House.
President Trump quickly put his support behind the daylight saving time aspect, which would mean our clocks would not fall back in November.
“It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!”
There are several groups that are against locking clocks on permanent daylight saving time. Many health experts, for example, agree that if we’re going to stop changing the clocks, it should be on permanent standard time.
Also opposed to permanent daylight saving time? Orthodox Jewish groups.
Their argument is two-fold, Rabbi A. D. Motzen, the national director of government affairs of Agudath Israel of America, told Nexstar via e-mail: the safety risks to schoolchildren – this concern, popular among parents, helped fuel pushback against permanent daylight saving time in the 1970s – and threats to their religious practices.
Both aspects are rooted in what happens when clocks are set to permanent daylight saving time. While summers would feel just as they do now, winters would feel vastly different. Sunsets would be later, a major benefit to those who support year-round daylight saving time, but in most parts of the U.S., the sun wouldn’t rise until well after 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. during the winter.
That’s a bit of a problem, Motzen explained.
“In Jewish law, morning prayers, and the rituals associated with them, may not be recited or performed earlier than specified times. Thus, the earliest time services generally begin is shortly before sunrise. The consequence of these requirements is self-evident: the later sunrise occurs; the later synagogue services must begin. Given the length of morning prayer services, together with the length of the average commute to the workplace, it would be extraordinarily difficult – if not impossible – to arrive to work on time. Alternatively, synagogues in affected cities would struggle to find a quorum for the daily services.”
Agudath Israel, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America expressed the same concerns in 2022 after the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act. Motzen recently told Jewish Insider that they’re taking a similar approach this year, working to educate members of Congress who are otherwise unaware “of our religious practices.” They’ve been receptive, he told the outlet.
Unlike other groups, Motzen said Agudath Israel isn’t advocating for clocks to lock on permanent standard time, either.
“… if the ‘clocks will be locked’ we are asking policymakers to carefully consider all of the effects of DST and compare them to the effects of permanent standard time or maintaining the status quo,” he explained, adding that “we do not want to have artificially dark winter mornings.”
Another bill introduced earlier this year would make “half-daylight saving time” permanent. Instead of the sun rising and setting an hour later in winter, the Daylight Act of 2026 would shift clocks forward a half hour.
Motzen said they don’t support that bill either because “it would make time zones even more confusing.”
The House has yet to take up the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026, in which the daylight saving legislation was included.
Under the Sunshine Protection Act, states that do not exempt themselves before it takes effect would lock their clocks on the time observed between March and November. Hawaii and most of Arizona, for example, would likely remain exempt, as they already observe year-round standard time.
Nineteen states have already enacted legislation to make daylight saving time permanent, pending approval by Congress.
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