Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday morning, when the clocks “fall back” an hour.
The change and return to standard time, scheduled to occur at 2 a.m. Sunday, aims to make the best use of daylight and energy. While the concept goes back to Benjamin Franklin, it’s still fodder for debate in America — and here in New Hampshire.
State lawmakers have for years considered bills dealing with Daylight Saving Time.
Earlier this year, the New Hampshire House of Representatives rejected a bill to abolish Daylight Saving Time. It was more nuanced than its title. It proposed abolishing Daylight Saving Time “once Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maine have all voted to do so.”
Therein lies the rub: No state is truly an island when it comes to this subject, with interstate commerce and thousands of Granite Staters who commute to Massachusetts and neighboring states for work. (Speaking of islands: Hawaii actually does not observe Daylight Saving Time, along with American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Arizona, with the exception of the Navajo Indian Reservation.)
Legislation called the Sunshine Protection Act is pending in Congress. It would make Daylight Saving Time a permanent standard time. The House passed it back in July, but it has an uncertain fate in the Senate. States could pass an exemption, according to the federal legislation.
Opponents have raised safety concerns, such as children walking to school or waiting for the morning bus in darkness.
Back in New Hampshire, state lawmakers have waded into the subject off and on since at least 2003, when a bill proposed making Daylight Saving Time the “official time of the state of New Hampshire throughout the year.”
State Rep. Timothy Horrigan, the sponsor of the most recent bill to abolish Daylight Saving Time, notes the seasonal time change can be disruptive and there’s also a correlation with an uptick in heart attacks.
“It’s better to stick with one or the other,” Horrigan said in a phone interview. He’d like standard time, preferring to have more sunlight in the morning.
Horrigan said he may file another bill for the 2027 legislative session. And as the clocks fall back an hour, he said he won’t be sleeping in, but will try to make the most of this “25-hour day.”
“It’s nice to have one right before the election,” he said, “when everyone is running around.”
