3.11.23 – Daylight Saving Time 2023: It’s Time to Spring Forward

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Daylight Saving Time 2023: It’s Time to Spring Forward

Daylight Saving Time (DST) starts for most of the U.S. on Sunday, March 12, at 2:00 a.m.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced bipartisan legislation last week that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent and end the twice-a-year adjusting of the clocks for most Americans. U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL) introduced companion legislation in the House. The bill would end the practice of turning the clocks back one hour to standard time every November. Daylight Saving Time would become permanent should the bill pass the Senate and the House and is signed into law.

Most of Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Under the new legislation, these areas will not be required to change to permanent DST.

In some places, keeping the clocks ahead in winter, especially in cities such as Boston and Chicago, which lie on the eastern edge of their respective time zones, would create later winter sunsets.

Most of New England, which has some of the earliest sunsets, would experience winter daylight, from about 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. rather than 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For example, Boston’s earliest sunset would occur at 5:11 p.m. instead of at 4:11 p.m. Similarly, Chicago and Los Angeles would still have daylight after 5 p.m. in December and January.

If the bill is not passed and signed into law this year, the first Sunday in November is when Daylight Saving Time will end in most areas of the United States. We will again “Fall Back” one hour and return to Standard Time on Sunday, November 5, 2023, at 2:00 a.m.