H.R. 9638: Sunshine for Our Kids Act of 2026

This bill would end the current federal practice of switching between standard time and daylight saving time each year, and would make standard time the default time nationwide.

What would change

• The bill repeals the part of federal law that authorizes daylight saving time under the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
• As a result, the country would generally stay on standard time instead of moving clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall.
• The change would take effect on the first Sunday in November after the bill becomes law.

State options

The bill also lets states choose to observe daylight saving time if they want, subject to the rules in the bill:

• A state could pass a law to move its standard time ahead by one hour either year-round or for part of the year.
• If a state does this, the whole state must use the same time.
• For states that span more than one time zone, the bill allows either:
  • the whole state to move ahead by one hour, or
  • each time-zone portion of the state to move ahead by one hour.

Practical effect

In everyday terms, most of the country would stop changing clocks twice a year. States could still decide to keep daylight saving time if they pass their own laws, but the federal default would be permanent standard time.

Relevant Companies

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