Daylight Saving Time Countdown: MD Considers Year-Round Change

MARYLAND — Most of us aren't wild about giving up an hour of sleep, and mornings will get darker again when Maryland moves clocks ahead for the start of daylight saving time in just a few days.

A move is under way in the Maryland Legislature to end the yearly flip-flop over the time change.

Daylight saving time in Maryland starts at 2 a.m. March 13. The practice involves moving clocks forward one hour from standard time during the summer months and changing them back again in the fall. This year, daylight saving time ends on Nov. 6.

The Maryland House of Delegates approved HB126, which would keep daylight saving time permanent, on Feb. 17. Lawmaker Brian Crosby, who has pushed for the legislation, said ending the biannual clock-change will "keep our circadian rhythms healthy, lower crime, and help small businesses. I look forward to seeing this bill pass in the Senate."

The bill, if approved by the state Senate, would make daylight saving time permanent only when all Maryland's neighboring states enact the same legislation and the federal government adopts the measure, WTOP reported.

Senate sponsor Sen. Justin D. Ready told The Washington Post that after two long pandemic winters an extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon year-round will appeal to other lawmakers.

“People are tired of the tyranny of getting out of work and it’s dark outside,” Ready told the newspaper. “Shouldn’t we keep the daylight mostly when people can actually enjoy it?”

The basic point of daylight saving time is to make better use of natural daylight; however, not every state observes it.

Hawaii doesn't observe daylight saving time, nor do the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Most of Arizona skips the time change.

Nearly every U.S. state has introduced legislation that would make standard or daylight saving time permanent, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In the last four years, 19 states have enacted legislation or passed resolutions to allow year-round daylight saving time, if Congress were to allow the change.

Federal law allows a state to exempt itself from observing daylight saving time, but does not allow the permanent observance of daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time has been around since World War I. But it became the law of the land more than 50 years ago with the Uniform Time Act of 1966, though the exact dates — now the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November — have changed some over the years.

Proponents may argue that longer evenings motivate people to get out of the house. The extra hour of daylight can be used for outdoor recreation such as golf, soccer, baseball, running and more. It also benefits the tourism industry.

However, critics say the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. The time change can mess with our body clocks and circadian rhythms, making for some restless nights and sleepy days. It also is difficult to quantify the economic cost of the collective tiredness caused by daylight saving time, but studies have found a decrease in productivity after the spring transition.