Alright, folks, so the Texas Senate recently gave the thumbs up to a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent in the state. No more changing our clocks twice a year – we’d be sticking with DST all year round. House Bill 1393, brought to us by Republican Rep. Will Metcalf from Conroe, is the mastermind behind this plan. The Senate gave their stamp of approval on Thursday with a vote of 27 to 4, following the House’s lead from last month. Now, it’s up to Governor Greg Abbott to sign off on it.
Senator Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Houston, made a case for the bill, saying that having more daylight in the evenings would be a better fit for Texans in today’s world. He argued that using that extra hour in the morning before an 8 a.m. start isn’t very efficient, but having it later in the day up until dusk would be more beneficial. The bill would apply DST across the entire state, but hold your horses – we can’t make the switch without the feds getting in on the action. Right now, federal law only lets states opt out of DST completely, not choose it all year long. So, even if Governor Abbott gives the green light to HB 1393, we’re stuck twiddling our thumbs until Congress decides to shake things up.
On the flip side, Democratic Senator Nathan Johnson from Dallas wasn’t feeling the love for HB 1393. He brought up the failed attempt in 1974 when President Nixon tried out permanent DST during an energy crisis, only to ditch the idea after facing backlash. Johnson raised the question of whether we should keep springing forward and falling back or stay true to our centuries-old clock-setting ways. He threw his vote in with the latter, saying we should stick to what we know. Not everyone is on the same page, though. A poll from 2019 showed that 40% of Americans preferred standard time year-round, while 31% were all for permanent DST. The remaining 28% were cool with the current clock-switching routine twice a year.
So, what’s the deal with this whole daylight saving time drama, you ask? Well, it looks like Texas is trying to make a move to keep us in DST mode all year long. Some folks are all for it, thinking it’ll make life easier in today’s world. Others aren’t so convinced, pointing to past failures and questioning if it’s really worth the trouble. Only time will tell if we’ll be waving goodbye to clock changes or if we’ll be stuck in the same old routine. Let’s see how this plays out in the grand scheme of things.
