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Daylight Saving Time Is Back Again, Here’s When to Change Your Clocks

Daylight saving time for 2023 officially begins on March 12 for most of the country. And while losing that hour of sleep for the “spring forward” reset sounds painful, just think of all the extra daylight you’ll get to enjoy for the next six months.

Here’s what to know about daylight saving time

Daylight saving time, often referred to as “daylight savings,” will start on Sunday, March 12, 2023, at 2 a.m. The time change always occurs on the same day each year (second Sunday in March), but the calendar date does change year to year.

When the time changes, it always happens at 2 a.m. local time in each time zone. Therefore, under daylight saving time, 2 a.m. local time becomes 3 a.m. When daylight saving time ends in the autumn, we return to “standard time” by resetting the clock back that one hour again.

What is the point of daylight saving time?

Many folks believe the change somehow draws its origins to farming, but it more clearly stems from transportation and labor in the early 20th century. By all accounts, the Germans began the practice in 1918 during WWI “to conserve fuel and power by extending daylight hours,” according to U.S. transportation statistics.

Americans followed suit in order to assist with the war effort. After the war concluded, though, some states reverted back to the old way while some maintained the time saving; mass confusion ensued, especially on railroads, leading to a nationalization of the practice in 1966.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which began that same year, codified the change “with dates for the twice-yearly transitions set by law.”

Which states are exempt from the practice?

All U.S. states observe daylight saving time, with the exception of Arizona, Hawaii, and some territories. The modern internet age has birthed a few movements of late encouraging politicians to adopt it as a standard practice. Critics of the biannual clock setting say its unnecessary and clunky.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), North Carolina, for instance, introduced two bills in the 2021 state legislative session that would have established daylight saving time as the official time year-round in North Carolina, “subject to congressional authorization.” The bills failed, NCSL says.

Some congressmen and women have brought forth “sunshine acts” in an effort to change the law at the federal level; no new laws have passed yet.

“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get it done.”