Why your state can't end daylight saving time on its own
States can opt out of daylight time. They cannot opt into it permanently. That asymmetry is the whole reason this bill exists.
Every year, legislatures across the country pass bills to "lock the clock." Every year, nothing happens. The reason isn't political gridlock in the states — it's that the states are asking for something federal law doesn't let them have.
The Uniform Time Act
Before 1966, US time was chaos: any town could start and end daylight time whenever it liked, and broadcasters and railroads had to publish schedules to match. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ended that by setting national start and end dates for daylight saving time.
The Act gave states exactly one escape hatch: a state may exempt itself from daylight saving time and stay on standard time all year. It did not give states the reverse option. There is no provision for a state to remain on daylight time year-round.
What that means in practice
A state may do this on its own:
Stay on standard time year-round — never spring forward. Arizona and Hawaii both made this choice decades ago, which is why their clocks don't move.
A state may not do this on its own:
Stay on daylight time year-round — never fall back. This requires an act of Congress, which is precisely what the Sunshine Protection Act would be.
The trigger laws
Faced with that limit, many states did the only thing available to them: they passed conditional laws. These "trigger" statutes declare that the state will move to year-round daylight time the moment federal law permits it — legislation that sits dormant until Congress acts.
By the site's count, 19 states have passed such measures. Estimates vary depending on whether you count binding statutes, resolutions, ballot measures, and bills that have since lapsed — but the direction is consistent and bipartisan, and it's a large share of the country waiting on the same federal switch.
This is why the Senate vote matters so much more than any state legislature's. If the Sunshine Protection Act became law, a substantial number of states would convert automatically, without passing anything new.
The one thing states could do instead
A state that genuinely wants to stop changing its clocks today already can — by moving to permanent standard time, the Arizona route. Almost none choose it, because what most people want isn't just an end to the switching; it's the late summer evenings that daylight time provides. That preference is what keeps the decision in Congress's hands.
What it would mean where you live
If your state has a trigger law, this is what would switch on. The main tool shows the exact sunrise and sunset you'd get, for your zip code, on any day of the year.
The count of states with year-round daylight time measures changes as legislatures act; verify current status with your state legislature before relying on it. The Sunshine Protection Act has passed the House only — it is not law.