State legislatures, sleep scientists and the public all seem to agree that the annual rite of springing forward and falling back has got to go. But the nation has not found consensus on what should replace it.
Nineteen states have passed laws or resolutions in the past five years to make daylight saving time permanent if Congress — and, in some cases, other states — permits the change. Two states, Arizona and Hawaii, have long followed permanent standard time, which the law already allows.
In standard time, noon arrives when the sun hangs highest in the sky. Daylight saving time shifts the clock forward, moving sunset one hour later. Currently, most of the United States operates on daylight saving time between March and November and on standard time for the rest of the year. The nation will bid goodbye to daylight saving time on Sunday, at least for now.