After enduring months of long, dark and, in Southern California, fairly mild winter nights, some residents will rejoice in the extra hour of daylight that arrives on Sunday, while others will lament the lost hour of sleep.
Generally speaking, daylight saving time changes twice a year are unpopular. Research shows that most Americans favor abandoning the practice, but are divided over which time system should remain. But for now, all Californians will set their clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday.
According to a 2025 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 12% of Americans actively favor changing the sundial, with 47% opposed and 40% neutral.
A 2025 Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans say they are ready to eliminate daylight saving time: 48% prefer year-round standard time and 24% prefer year-round daylight saving time.
In 2018, California voters approved Proposition 7, which allows the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if federal law allows it. Nineteen states have adopted similar legislation aimed at ending twice-yearly time change, but these measures cannot take effect without congressional action.
Over the past decade, dozens of bills seeking to make daylight saving time permanent have been introduced in Congress. However, the legislation has stalled, largely because lawmakers can't reach a consensus on what should replace the time switch.
Many lawmakers support permanent daylight saving time because it allows people to get into the sun later. Some research suggests that “advancement” also correlates with an increase in credit card spending.
However, sleep scientists and medical groups generally argue in favor of permanent standard time, saying it better aligns with human circadian rhythms and reduces health risks. Research has linked the advance of March spring to short-term increases in traffic accidents, heart attacks and strokes.
Daylight saving time was originally implemented by Congress in 1918 when the United States entered World War I, and then was reversed just two years later.
In 1942, Congress made daylight saving time permanent year-round to save fuel during World War II. In 1945, that measure was repealed and states were allowed to choose how they would observe daylight saving time and standard time.
Congress amended the law in 1986 to start daylight saving time on the first Sunday in April and end it on the last Sunday in October. Finally, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the calendar so that daylight saving time began on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November, a system that has remained in place ever since.
Although public frustration over the time changes is high, the issue has repeatedly taken a backseat in larger legislative fights involving budgets, defense, immigration and taxes.
In 2022, the federal Sunshine Protection Act to make daylight saving time permanent managed to pass the Senate, but then stalled and died in the House.
In 2025, President Trump urged Congress to make daylight saving time permanent, calling twice-yearly clock changes a “huge inconvenience” and “very costly” in a statement on social media.
Current federal law does not allow daylight saving time to be permanent, but it does allow states to opt for permanent standard time, something only Arizona and Hawaii have done.
California State Senator Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) recently introduced Senate Bill 1197, which would make it standard year-round in the Golden State. He introduced a similar bill last year, which failed during the session.
At the federal level, Rep. Gregory W. Steube (R-Florida) is trying a somewhat creative approach to getting a time-change bill passed. He has introduced HR 7378, which proposes splitting the difference by permanently advancing the clock by half an hour and stopping the time change twice a year.
Will any of these efforts be successful? Time will tell, but for now Californians (and most of the United States) are stuck playing the same old conga on Sundays.
