TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On Sunday, just 10 days before the 4th anniversary of former Florida Gov. Rick Scott signing HB 1013 to enact uniform daylight saving time for all Floridians, state residents will have to “spring forward” yet again to keep up with the clock.
Soon after Scott signed that bill, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida, proposed the idea at the national level, introducing legislation known as the “Sunshine Protection Act” that has spent years languishing in limbo on Capitol Hill. Whether it’s done on a state or federal level, a change to Florida’s observance of daylight saving time would require the repeal and amendment of key sections of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, something that Rubio is still trying to convince the nation is a good idea.
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The senator reintroduced the legislation in March 2021, most recently touting a bipartisan list of Senate cosponsors in a Thursday news release ahead of the Sunday time change. In a video message paired with the release, Rubio said Americans will soon “suffer yet another ridiculous time change,” calling the practice “antiquated” and “dumb,” much like he has over the last several years.
Rubio provided a list of “potential effects of making daylight saving time permanent for the nation,” claiming it could lessen childhood obesity and seasonal depression, cut down on car crashes, boost economic activity and even reduce the number of robberies by 27%. A one-page summary of the bill can be accessed by clicking here.
“As a country, we’ve dealt with this policy for far too long. Twenty states and a huge majority of Americans want to stay in daylight saving time all year round, and we now have bipartisan and bicameral support to do just that. So please, let’s just lock the clock once and for all and put all this stupidity behind us,” Rubio said.
Watch the message in the video player below: