OLYMPIA, Wash. — It's nearly that time again – Daylight Saving Time will start on March 10, prompting millions to lose an hour of sleep during a difficult adjustment period. People similarly have complaints when DST comes to an end in November – although we gain an hour of sleep, it signals the start of a long winter ahead and dreaded 4 p.m. sunsets.
Lawmakers both at the state and federal level have tried, in vain, for years to pick one consistent time for the state of Washington – meaning no springing forward or falling back ever again. However, their efforts have routinely failed, leaving Washingtonians frustrated.
The most recent effort by state lawmakers, SB 5795, failed to make it out of the Legislature's State Government & Elections Committee, topping off half a decade of effort. Here's a deeper look into lawmaker's attempts to "ditch the switch" dating back to 2019.
2019: State Legislature approves year-round DST - pending approval from Congress
During the 2019 regular session, HB 1196, allowing for the year-round observation of Daylight Saving Time (pending approval from Congress) passed by a wide margin in both the House and the Senate. It passed out of the House with 89 yeas and seven nays and in the Senate with 46 yeas and two nays.
The bill noted that it is not currently federally legal for states to make this switch, but if Congress passed a federal law to authorize year-round DST, the Washington state Legislature would observe it permanently.
2021 – current: Sunshine Protection Act stalls in Congress
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has been co-sponsoring federal legislation to allow states to observe permanent DST since 2021. The bill, the Sunshine Protection Act, was first introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in 2018. Rubio has reintroduced the bill every year since.
There was some momentum when the bill passed out of the Senate in 2022, but it stalled in the House. There was no action taken on the bill in 2023.
Overall, 19 states have voted to move to Daylight Saving Time permanently, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, including Washington.
Attempt to sidestep federal approval stalls in the state Legislature
In an attempt to sidestep the federal approval process, Washington state lawmakers introduced a bill for the 2024 session that would switch the state to permanent Pacific Standard Time instead, a right all states are allowed to exercise without the approval of Congress.
Two states, Hawaii and Arizona, have opted to remain on Standard Time permanently. U.S. territories American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
The bill, which received bipartisan support in the Senate, failed to make it out of the State Government & Elections Committee in time for full consideration. If it had passed, Washington would have sprung an hour forward in March as normal and rolled back onto standard time permanently in the fall.
In a hearing on Jan. 16, lawmakers discussed the possibility of an amendment to the bill text that would have allowed the state to switch to DST should the issue ever be taken up by Congress.
"What we want to do is ditch the switch," said state Sen. Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley). "We're tired of that switch and we'd like to go to a new standard."
The bill referenced studies that attribute an increase in health complications, including car accidents and workplace injuries, to the DST/PST switch.
Lawmakers in California and Oregon also introduced proposals to switch to permanent PST this year, with the hopes that the three states could make the change together, however, it appears that will not happen in 2024.
The bill introduced in California is sitting in committee. Oregon's SB 1548 was nearly voted down this week but instead was sent back to the committee, meaning it could come up for another vote before the legislative session ends.