I have two pet peeves that come with Daylight Saving Time. This first is when people call it “savings”, it’s not. It’s saving. The second is that we have it at all. If you were listening to us a year ago when the bill to abolish time changes was making its way through the state legislature, you’ll likely recall my passion for this topic. There are 24 hours in a day and generally 365 days per year. Period. While Florida passed the law to end time changes last year, it requires federal passage before we can legally make the move to stay in reality.
As you know, “requiring an act of Congress doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. That being said, it’s a new year, a newcongressand Floridians in the US House and Senate are making the case. Florida’s now senior Senator Marco Rubio and junior Senator Rick Scott have proposed a bill in the Senate that ends time changes in Florida, sticking with Daylight Saving Time. Rubio proposed this last year and now is aided by the man who signed it into law in Florida, making the case in the Senate as well. Additionally, in the US House, representative Vern Buchannan has authored a similar bill. My fingers are crossed that the federal government won’t hold up what we’ve already made clear that we want in Florida.
Rubio’s making the case, based on a J.P. Morgan study, that between 2.2% to 4.9% declines in economic activity take place when we exit Daylight Saving Time.
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