Florida Falls Back Sunday - and Its Push for Permanent Daylight Time Is Still Waiting on the Senate
Clocks go back an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, as they have every year since Florida voted in 2018 to stay on daylight time permanently. The state's law still cannot take effect, because Congress has not finished the approval Florida needs.
At 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, Florida's clocks fall back an hour to 1 a.m., sunrise and sunset shift about an hour earlier, and the state returns to standard time - the same ritual it has performed every year since its own lawmakers voted to end it. Florida passed legislation in 2018 to stay on daylight saving time year-round, the Naples News reported in its clock-change guide this week, but that change requires congressional approval, and the approval has never arrived.
This year came closer than most. The U.S. House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, H.R. 139, on July 14 - by a vote of 308-117, the Naples News reported - which would make daylight saving time the new permanent standard time in the United States. The bill then stalled in the Senate. A companion bill, S. 29, was filed by Senator Rick Scott of Florida on January 7, 2025. Florida is one of 19 states that have passed legislation supporting permanent daylight saving time if Congress approves it.
The calendar is not helping. The Pensacola News Journal noted that the Senate is not scheduled to be in session again until November 9, and then only for three days before another break - which means Sunday's fall back happens, once again, with Florida's 2018 law on the books and inoperative. Until Congress acts and the president signs, Miami keeps the twice-a-year change: spring forward in March, fall back on the first Sunday in November, and an extra hour of sleep this Sunday morning.
