Clocks Fall Back Sunday as Senate Stalls on Federal Bill to End Time Shifts
Federal legislation to make daylight saving time permanent cleared the House in July but has not received a Senate floor vote.
By Haruka Ivanov ·
Southern California clocks will move backward one hour early Sunday, restoring Pacific Standard Time after a daylight saving period that began March 8.
At 2 a.m. Sunday, clocks return to 1 a.m. Phones, computers and other networked devices will adjust themselves; wall clocks, watches, appliances and some vehicle clocks need manual changes.
The shift moves sunrise earlier. Sunday's sunrise is set for about 6:13 a.m., with sunset near 5 p.m.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asks drivers to slow down and watch for pedestrians and children as evening darkness returns, particularly near school zones and bus stops. The agency also tells pedestrians to wear bright or reflective clothing and carry a flashlight after dark.
Fire departments ask residents to use the hour change to test smoke alarms, practice a home fire escape plan, and check batteries in carbon monoxide detectors.
Federal law sets the switchovers for the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. Hawaii, most of Arizona, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not observe daylight saving time.
California voters passed Proposition 7 in 2018, which lets the Legislature change the state's daylight saving schedule with a two-thirds vote, provided the change complies with federal law. Under current law, the state can adopt standard time year-round, but it cannot keep daylight saving time permanently unless Congress acts.
The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, H.R. 139, by a 308-117 vote on July 14. The bill would make daylight saving time permanent in states that observe it and end the twice-yearly changes. It went to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where it has stalled. A companion measure, S. 29, drew a 16-12 committee majority in April 2025, but the panel said another vote was needed to satisfy in-person attendance rules. Neither bill has reached the Senate floor.
President Donald Trump urged senators to take up the House bill. "The United States Senate is letting the Daylight Saving Bill die, when a vast Majority of the Country want it," Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social, adding that most people want more evening light and no longer want to change their clocks. In December 2024 he called for eliminating daylight saving time, described the issue as "50-50" in March 2025, and later backed permanent daylight saving time.
Several senators oppose the House bill, arguing that permanent daylight saving time would leave children and commuters in northern states traveling before sunrise during winter. The Senate is unlikely to vote before year's end, according to media reports. The nation ran a permanent daylight saving schedule in 1974 during an energy crisis; Congress ended the experiment early after support fell over concerns about children traveling to school in darkness.
Absent a federal change, daylight saving time returns at 2 a.m. March 14, 2027, when clocks move forward one hour.
Source: KNSD
