EDITORIAL: Make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationwide

The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·2 min read

Apr. 14—The sun will rise in Scranton at 7:25 a.m. on Dec. 21, the first day of winter, according to timeanddate.com, if the current system of switching from Eastern Daylight Saving Time to Eastern Standard Time remains in force.

But if the state Legislature decides not to "fall back," and maintains Daylight Saving Time year-round, the sun will poke above the horizon at 8:25 a.m. on Dec. 21. You will be at work and the kids will be in school, well in advance of daylight.

The upside, of course, is that the sun would set that day at 5:26 p.m., rather than 4:26 p.m.

Pennsylvania is one of 16 states with pending legislation to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. A bill to that effect, sponsored by Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Lehigh County, recently passed the state House, 103-98.

If it becomes law, state residents no longer would have to worry about setting their clocks ahead one hour in the spring and back one hour in the fall. But the change would be far greater than that, affecting innumerable time-dependent aspects of daily life and putting the state out of sync with most of its neighbors. Eliminating the change would not alter the amount of daylight each day, but it would change how everyone experiences it.

Regardless of the merits, the Legislature should not go it alone on this matter. The nation has enough dividing it at the moment without creating a patchwork of time standards. Now, only Arizona (except for the Navajo nation), Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not make the seasonal time change.

It makes far more sense to have a national standard. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida have introduced the Sunshine Protection Act to make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationwide.

"Americans can enjoy having sunlight during their most productive hours of the day and never have to worry about changing their clocks again," they wrote of their bill.

In any case, this matter should be left to Congress so that the nation can complain about the darkness, whenever it is most pervasive, as one.