Daylight Saving Time Across the US
Daylight Saving Time is finally here to relieve/burden your sleep cycle by an hour. A common misconception about the practice is that it was started to benefit American farmers. However, DST actually is a detriment to farmers, who schedule their days around the availability of daytime hours and are actually disrupted by the yearly practice. DST was actually introduced during WWI to save fuel, as has since been effective in promoting economic activity.
For over 50 years, however, Arizona has skipped the custom altogether. In 1968, the Arizona State Legislature voted to opt out of the Uniform Time Act that pushed sunset to a later hour. More daytime was not a realistic option in a state where temperatures can rise into the triple digits for months at a time.
When DST goes into effect elsewhere, Arizona ends up having the same time as Los Angeles. Sporting events and TV shows on cable networks start an hour earlier. If DST were to be observed, the sun would not set during Springtime in Arizona until nearly 9pm. Some Native American reservations within state lines, like the Navajo Nation, choose to observe DST while others don’t, meaning a drive through the state could result in multiple changes in time zone. Arizona’s rejection of a nationwide custom is reflective of their independent Western spirit.
Other states have wanted to implement their own use for DST. A proposal was introduced in 2018 called the Sunshine Protection Act, which would allow Florida to keep DST year-round. This change would lead to an 8am sunrise during Winter Solstice and a sunset of 6:30pm, giving Floridians more hours of daytime in the darkest months of the year and boosting economic activity. Florida currently operates on Central Time Zone, and the change would align the state with Eastern time.
Massachusetts once considered shifting from the Eastern Time Zone to the Atlantic Standard Time, essentially adopting DST for the whole year in making them an hour ahead of the rest of New England. A bill introduced in California to abolish DST altogether, however, was ultimately never adopted.
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