House Vote Revives Push to End Twice-Yearly Clock Changes, and South Carolina Is Already on Record
July 15, 2026
The U.S. House voted 308-117 on Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, sending the Sunshine Protection Act to a Senate where its future remains uncertain.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., would end the practice of moving clocks forward in March and back in November. It would put the country on the time it currently observes from March to November. States could remain on standard time year-round only if an exemption is in place before the federal law takes effect, as Hawaii and most of Arizona have done.
Five of South Carolina’s seven House members voted for the measure. Reps. Joe Wilson of the 2nd District, Sheri Biggs of the 3rd District, William Timmons of the 4th District, Ralph Norman of the 5th District and Russell Fry of the 7th District, all Republicans, voted yes. Rep. James Clyburn, a Democrat who represents the 6th District, voted no. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican who represents the 1st District, did not vote.
South Carolina has been waiting on Congress for six years. Gov. Henry McMaster signed S. 11 into law in February 2020, adding Section 1-1-30 to the state code. That section provides that if Congress amends federal law to authorize year-round daylight saving time, the General Assembly intends for daylight saving time to become the year-round standard for the entire state and all of its political subdivisions.
Nineteen states have passed similar trigger laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Under the Sunshine Protection Act, no additional action by the General Assembly would be required, because permanent daylight saving time would become the national default rather than a state option.
What the change would look like in the Upstate
Permanent daylight saving time would mean later evenings for most of the year and noticeably darker mornings in December and January.
The latest sunrise of the year in the Upstate now arrives around 7:35 a.m. in early January. Under permanent daylight saving time, clocks would read closer to 8:35 a.m. before the sun cleared the horizon, putting much of the region’s school and work commute in darkness for several weeks. At the other end of the day, the earliest sunset of the year, currently about 5:19 p.m. in early December, would shift to roughly 6:19 p.m.
That trade-off sits at the center of the debate. Medical and sleep organizations have argued that permanent standard time better matches the body’s internal clock, and that locking in daylight saving time would send children to bus stops before daybreak through the darkest weeks of winter.
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., sought to substitute language from her Sunshine for Our Kids Act, which would make standard time permanent instead. The amendment was rejected. Scanlon told the House Rules Committee that Congress has tried permanent daylight saving time before, in 1973, and repealed it within a year once public opinion turned. She said the extra evening light of summer has to be weighed against the added hours of winter darkness.
Supporters framed the vote as a matter of common sense. Buchanan said the twice-yearly switch disrupts schedules for no good reason. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told the Rules Committee he does not know anyone who still wants to change the clocks.
The Senate is the next hurdle
A companion bill from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has cleared the Senate Commerce Committee, but senators in both parties have objected to the approach in committee, and a senior congressional aide said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., plans to ask Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., not to bring the bill to the floor. The Senate passed a comparable measure in 2022, only for it to stall in the House. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who led that earlier effort, has called on Thune to schedule a vote as soon as possible.
President Donald Trump has said he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
For now, nothing has changed. Unless the Senate acts and the president signs the measure before the fall, clocks across South Carolina will fall back one hour on Sunday, Nov. 1.
