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Home Indiana Time Debate 1: Daylight Saving > The West Wing Sunshine Act Debate 2: Eastern vs Central More Info History Videos | Sunshine Protection Act of | |||||
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A bill in the US Congress to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Every congress since 2018 the same bill has been introduced to effectively make daylight saving time permanent. The proposal changes the definion of each of the US time zones to advance them one hour and then ends seasonal daylight saving time. The proposal provides "an extra hour of sunshine" at the end of the workday at the cost of "an extra hour of darkness" at the beginning of the workday. In Indiana and Michigan that would lead to a few days each winter where the sun does not rise until after 9am. In 2022 the bill passed the Senate (Unanimous Consent 3/15/2022) but did not make it out of committee in the House. In 2026 the bill passed the House (308-117) and is currently in committee in the Senate. Congress must pass the bill by the end of 2026 for it to become law. If not passed, it will need to start over as a new bill in the next congress (2027). | |||||
What would Permanent DST look like in Indiana? On the left, the area in blue would have a few sunrises after 9am. The areas in green would have their latest sunrise between 8am and 9am. On the right, the area in yellow would have no sunset earlier than 6pm year round. The areas in green would have their earliest sunset between 5pm and 6pm.  A comparison of Eastern Time with DST and Permanent DST in Indianapolis. Permanent DST would create a latest sunrise of 9:06am with 33 days after 9am. The "fall back" prevents sunrises after 8:11am but has an earliest winter sunset at 5:19pm.  A comparison of Eastern Time with DST and Permanent DST in South Bend. Permanent DST would create a latest sunrise of 9:12am with 49 days after 9am. The "fall back" prevents sunrises after 8:15am but has an earliest winter sunset at 5:14pm. One proposal to avoid the later sunrises created by the proposal would be for Indiana (and possibly Michigan) to opt out of daylight savings time. This would effectively move the states into the newly advanced central time zone. The extremes currently observed would continue to be observed. Opting out at the state level would require all eastern time counties to observe the current definition of standard time. The state can also petition to move the state into central time as shown below (with some counties remaining in eastern time).  This diagram shows Michigan and Indiana opted out of permanent DST. Note five counties in southeast Indiana shown as Eastern Time due to their ties to Louisville and Cincinatti. Additional counties may choose to remain on Eastern Time. While opting out would restore the current latest sunrise and earliest sunset, it would create a situation where Michigan and Indiana would no longer be on the same time as Ohio, eastern Kentucky and everywhere else in the eastern time zone. Indiana and Michigan would be on "Chicago Time". Michigan and Indiana chose to be on Eastern Time "for the convenience of commerce". Any move back should also be made under that standard, not because of personal prefrerence. If Michigan decides to stay on Eastern Time it would make less economic sense for Indiana to move to Central Time. Canada is considering (on a province by province process) moving to Permanent DST, which would affect commerce ties to Michigan. See Eastern vs Central for the time zone debate. See The Sunshine Protection Act for more details and national focused discussion. | ||||||
