This weekend, Washingtonians will once again lose an hour overnight, setting their clocks forward in accordance with Daylight Saving Time.

Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. March 9, and ends November 2. Both clock changes occur at 2 a.m., becoming 3 a.m. and 1 a.m. respectively.

But why are we still observing this tradition, after years of discussing a switch to end it?

Here’s what we know.

Daylight Saving Time origins

It has been standard to observe Daylight Saving Time across the United States since the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was passed. The legislation immediately followed the creation of the Department of Transportation. Both were made in response to rising transportation needs for the growing national economy.

Time zones had been standardized federally as early as 1883, with the current six time zone standard across the 50 states beginning when Hawai’i became a state, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The Uniform Time Act restricts state governments from altering their time zones or changing the dates associated with Daylight Saving Time within their boundaries.

However, states are allowed to independently exempt themselves from observing Daylight Saving Time entirely.

Currently, all states except Hawai’i and Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation territories) observe Daylight Saving Time. Numerous U.S. territories have opted out as well. These states and boundaries observe permanent standard time, which is permissible per the legislation.

Updating DST legislation

There is growing bipartisan support for updating the standards around Daylight Saving Time.

A bill to make DST permanent, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, passed the U.S. Senate unanimously in 2022. It would make Daylight Saving Time the year-round standard, and allow states opting out to determine their own standard times.

The bill, however, sat in the House of Representatives through the end of the legislative session.

Since then, no legislation regarding Daylight Saving Time has made it through the House of Representatives.

Several states, including Washington, have passed their own legislation that would immediately make Daylight Saving Time permanent if federal standards changed.

While then-Governor Jay Inslee signed off on the permanent update in 2019, the practice will continue in the Evergreen State as long as the Sunshine Protection Act is stalled in Congress.

Sunshine Protection Act 2025

U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act with the support of 13 other senators on Jan. 8, 2025, bringing back the proposal to end the time changes. Permanent Daylight Saving Time would become the standard across the country.

“Every year, more Americans grow more frustrated setting their clocks back and forth, and every winter folks in Washington state despair at the prospect of losing an hour of precious sunlight when we are forced off Daylight Saving Time,” Senator Murray stated in a press release. “This is about public health, it is about our economy, and it’s about just putting a little more light in families’ lives so they can spend time together, outdoors, in the sunshine.”

Murray referenced the strong bipartisan support across the country for permanent Daylight Saving Time, and said she’ll work with anyone she can to update the federal law.

Current President Donald Trump has publicly stated his intentions to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, though no concrete steps have been taken yet. While it’s possible this could be the last time we set our clocks forward in spring and back in the fall, it’s currently too early to say for sure.