As days get shorter and sunsets come earlier, many Palm Beach County residents start wondering whether daylight saving time is officially here.
The short answer is no, but it's imminent.
Most Americans want to end the twice-annual clock changes, but polls differ on whether standard time or daylight saving time should be permanent. Renewed efforts in Congress have sought to make daylight saving time permanent, with the U.S. House voting 308-117 on July 14 to send H.R. 139 to the Senate for consideration.
Meanwhile, the Senate version of the bill has been in limbo since the Senate referred it to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Jan. 7, 2025.
H.R. 139, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, was filed Jan. 3, 2025, by Rep. Vern
Buchanan, Florida-District 16. Buchanan has brought the Sunshine Protection Act before each Congress since 2018. The Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time the new permanent standard in the United States, but would allow states to opt out and stay on standard time.
In August, Trump urged senators to pass the bill "ASAP," saying Americans are "sick and tired" of changing their clocks twice a year.
Here's when and what to know about the end of daylight saving time in 2026.
When does the time change? When we fall back in 2026
Daylight saving time ends on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 2 a.m., when clocks fall back an hour to 1 a.m. Sunrise and sunset will be about an hour earlier on Nov. 1 than the day before, meaning more morning light and less evening light.
Daylight saving time for 2026 started on Sunday, March 8, at 2 a.m., when clocks sprang forward an hour, to 3 a.m.
Daylight saving time countdown clock
Why do we have daylight saving time? What to know about DST origins
A common daylight saving time misconception is that it was created to give farmers more daylight hours to work outdoors. However, that is not true.
Although the earliest known proposal to “save” daylight came from Benjamin Franklin's “An Economical Project” in 1784, he didn't cause the time change we observe today.
According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the first true proponent of daylight saving time was a London builder named William Willet, who "noticed that the shutters of houses were tightly closed even though the sun had risen" while he was riding his horse on an early morning in 1907.
"Willet spent a small fortune lobbying businessmen, members of Parliament, and the U.S. Congress to put clocks ahead 20 minutes on each of the four Sundays in April and reverse the process on consecutive Sundays in September. But his proposal was met mostly with ridicule," the almanac says.
It wasn't until World War I that countries started adopting the concept to conserve fuel and resources. The Germans first adopted the system in 1915, Britain followed in 1916, and the U.S. began observing the time change in 1918, when Congress passed its "Standard Time Act," which established time zones.
"Many Americans viewed the practice as an absurd attempt to make late sleepers get up early. Others thought following 'clock time' instead of 'sun time' was unnatural. A columnist in the Saturday Evening Post offered this alternative: "Why not ‘save summer’ by having June begin at the end of February?"
"The matter took on new meaning in April 1917, when President Woodrow Wilson declared war. Suddenly, energy conservation was paramount, and several efforts were launched to enlist public support for changing the clocks."
What states are backing permanent Daylight Saving Time? Where does Florida and Palm Beach County fall?
Florida backs the measure to make daylight saving time permanent. In fact, Florida politicians have led the charge to end daylight saving time changes.
In 2018, Florida became the first state to pass legislation "locking the clock" to stay on daylight saving time year-round, but it requires an act of Congress to take effect. Annual bills to do that have since failed to move.
In addition to Florida, 18 other states — Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming — have already passed legislation to make daylight saving time permanent if the law is signed, according to the Hill.
Arizona and Hawaii already remain on standard time year-round and generally do not observe daylight saving time.
Samantha Neely is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, theme parks, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Does time change this weekend? When daylight saving ends in Florida
