Texas House Votes Overwhelmingly To Never Change Clocks Again

It is getting closer and closer to being outlawed, the practice of changing clocks twice a year is getting closer to being a thing of the past.

The Texas House voted today (April 11, 2023) on stopping the tradition of changing clocks twice a year and remaining on daylight saving time permanently.

The vote was 136-5 to approve House Bill 1422 authored by Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe.

“The antiquated practice of ‘springing forward’ and ‘falling back’ — changing our clocks twice a year — is frustrating to many Texans,” Metcalf said ahead of the vote. “I believe we should stick to a time without switching twice a year.”

It is still got a long way to go before it is a reality, it still needs to clear the Texas Senate and even if it is signed into law by Gov. Abbott, it would still require approval from Congress.

Federal law allows states to refrain from observing daylight saving time if they pass a state law, but that is only to stay on standard time and the bill in the Texas House wants to keep Texas on Daylight Saving Time to allow for a later sunset all year long which is not stated in the Federal law.

But if the bill does become law, Texas would join 19 other states that have passed or enacted measures to make daylight saving time permanent, but the law can't go into effect without a law from Congress granting states the authority to permanently observe daylight saving time.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a bill last month to do just that.

“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” Rubio said in a statement last month. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support.”

So we wait and see when all of this takes hold and we can have one time all year long and never have to change clocks ever again.