Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, March 12th at 2am. Clocks need to be set to 3am or one hour later (“spring ahead”).
Daylight Saving Time runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November throughout the world. In the US, it is a federal law, but states can request to be exempted.
Hawaii and much of Arizona do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
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Click for more informationA 2019 bill passed in the Washington state legislature said the state would make such a change if the US Congress approved. But nothing has changed in the 3 years since because the US Congress has not passed legislation to end Daylight Saving Time.
Washington Senator Patty Murray (D) co-sponsored a bill in 2021 requiring the federal government to grant the required waivers to states that have approved switching to daylight saving time permanently. The bill, called the Sunshine Protection Act, passed the US Senate in 2022 by unanimous consent, meaning no senators opposed it, but it stalled in the US House. This is awaiting a Department of Transportation report on the effects of making the permanent change. That report is not due until the December 31, 2023.
Under the Uniform Time Act, states may choose to exempt themselves from observing Daylight Saving Time by state law but states do not have the authority to choose to be on permanent Daylight Saving Time.
The 2022 Washington state legislature was presented Senate Bill 5511, sponsored by Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Yakima County, that if passed, would place Washington on standard time year-round “until Congress authorizes states to observe Daylight Saving Time year-round.” It failed to go beyond the Senate committee.