Daylight Saving Time: Will NY Stop Changing the Clocks?

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Some New Yorkers value daylight saving time and want it to become permanent. Others, however, would prefer to scrap the whole idea completely.

New Yorkers and residents of most U.S. states will set their clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 3rd. Then we will “fall back” to standard time.

When we leave Daylight Saving Time, it seems like we lose an hour of daylight every day.

The system of uniform daylight saving time throughout the United States was established by the Uniform Time Act of 1966. And while not every state is participating, New York is doing so — for now.

During the fall 2023 legislative session, lawmakers in the New York State Assembly and Senate introduced two bills to make daylight saving time permanent.

However, both bills remained stuck in committee and no vote was taken. So neither has become law.

The bill passed the Senate in March 2022, and State Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, author of the bill, reintroduced the bill in March 2023 with bipartisan support. But the House never voted on it, deferring to more pressing matters.

Lead the charge

Leading the charge in New York are Senator Joe Griffo of North Rome and Senator Angelo L. Santabarbara of Schenectady.

Griffo told Advance/SILive.com that people are overwhelmingly telling him, “Let's stop leaping forward and falling back.” It's a bipartisan issue, he said, and there are ongoing efforts to build coalitions for the Transition to a permanent solution to form summer time.

“My hope is that more states continue to do this,” Griffo said, citing conversations about the support he received in New England and mid-Atlantic states and his desire to get the attention of the federal government.

“We hope that we get their attention, and the federal government will soon see it that way,” he said.

The reason for the support is consistency, Griffo said. “You want only a portion of the time to be used,” he added. “The vast majority seem to prefer daylight saving time, and studies seem to show that this is more beneficial.”

The change continues for now.

We set the clocks forward on March 10th, ushering in Daylight Saving Time 2024. On November 3rd we will switch back to daylight saving time.

called advantages

Rubio and other advocates for a permanent change to daylight saving time have argued that the practice of changing time is outdated. They say that “locking the clock” to daylight saving time results in better sleep for everyone, especially new parents – because babies' internal clocks don't change.

Many others say that by turning clocks back an hour in the fall, we lose valuable sunlight during the darkest time of the year, making winter days even shorter at a time when depression and anxiety are at their peak.

Some say a switch to permanent daylight saving time will help farmers in agriculture.

Tourism will also benefit, said Griffo, as more people shop and eat on longer days.

But those who would like to see a permanent end to daylight saving time argue that a permanent switch to standard time is more consistent with the natural daily cycle and promotes health and safety.

In any case, Daylight Saving Time, sometimes incorrectly referred to by the plural “Daylight Savings Time,” ends on November 3rd, and New Yorkers are expected to “fall back” to standard time.