Bipartisan efforts are underway in Congress to make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent across the United States, a practice that is currently reserved for only the nation’s warmer months.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks) last year introduced legislation to make DST year-round. Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) added his name to the list of lawmakers advocating for the change. Tuberville became a cosponsor of a bill originally introduced by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the Sunshine Protection Act.
In a statement announcing his support of the legislation, Tuberville outlined what he saw as the need to abolish what many believe to be an outdated practice.
“Alabamians have made it clear that springing forward and falling back should be a thing of the past,” stated Tuberville. “Centuries ago, a time change might have made sense, but it doesn’t today. An additional hour of sunshine during cold winter months would be welcome news for folks on their way to work and kids on their way home from school. It just makes sense to pass the Sunshine Protection Act.”
The Alabama Legislature in 2020 passed legislation calling to make DST year-round. However, action at the federal level is needed for the change to go into effect.
During a press call earlier this week, Alabama’s junior senator detailed his constituents’ desire to enjoy the benefits of having more sunshine throughout the day.
“Well, we’re having more and more people I talk to across the state of Alabama – farmers, people who work in manufacturing, school teachers, people that are looking at the situation,” advised Tuberville. “They want continuity. We need longer days. We need more daylight. Now that President Biden and this administration’s gotten us in a huge battle of trying to save our natural resources and driving up the price of gas and oil, our energy bills are going to go up. So we need to do everything we possibly can.”
Given that support for year-round daylight saving time has garnered bipartisan support, Tuberville is hopeful that the efforts will be successful.
“But over the years, I’ve heard people all across this country not just the state of Alabama saying ‘Listen, if we ever get the opportunity, we need to make sure that we can have longer days and not longer nights.’ So there’s a group of us up here already – this is a bipartisan issue,” added Tuberville. “We’ve had several Democratic senators recently get up on the Senate flor and speak of the need to have these longer days to have this permanent. So hopefully we can get a grip into this, get people behind us and get this passed so we can do away with something that was put in for different reasons and no the reasons we need them for today.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
