PA Bill To Make Daylight Savings Permanent — Has Bi-Partisan Support

This coming Saturday night (March 14), we will “spring forward” our clocks by one hour, and we’ll lose an hour of sleep on Sunday morning. Our payback for that is that we can enjoy an extra hour of daylight until we “fall back” on Saturday night, November 6.

A few of our state legislators don’t want us to ever “fall back.”

Pennsylvania House Bill 335, which calls for amending the act of April 13, 1887 [not a typo] (P.L.21, No.18), entitled “An act for the establishment of a uniform standard of time throughout the Commonwealth,” was introduced on January 29, 2021.

Representative Jennifer O’Mara, from the 165th District which includes various parts Springfield, Marple, Radnor, and the borough of Morton, is one of two Democrats sponsoring the bill. She is joined by six Republicans, including Chris Quinn who represents the adjoining 168th District.

Representative Ryan Mackenzie, another Republican sponsor of HB-335,  wrote in a memorandum, “Twice a year, Pennsylvanians are subject to adding unnecessary stress to our lives by changing our clocks between daylight saving time (DST) and standard time. The 1966 Uniform Time Act brought some order to the country’s clocks by creating a uniform standard of time and creating several time zones. The Act allows a state to become exempt from DST but does not allow permanent DST unless certain conditions are met.

My legislation will allow Pennsylvania to follow permanent DST if the Congress of the United States permits states to do so. My bill is modeled off of a Florida law.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation.”