Are brighter winter evenings in store for Pennsylvania?
The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent, but only if it also clears the Senate and becomes law.
If permanent daylight saving time does become our new reality, yes, we would enjoy longer daylight at the end of a day, but it comes at a price and therein lies the debate. The biggest change wouldn't happen after work, it would happen before breakfast.
In the Philadelphia area, the latest winter sunrises now occur around 7:22 a.m. Under permanent daylight saving time, sunrise wouldn't arrive until after 8:20 a.m. during some of the darkest weeks of the year.
That means many students could be standing at bus stops before sunrise. Office workers might spend their entire morning commute under streetlights. Construction crews and other outdoor workers could begin shifts in darkness on some winter mornings.
For parents, the change could be especially noticeable in January, when children are already heading to school during some of the coldest mornings of the year.
So the sacrifice of no longer changing clocks twice a year could have many Pennsylvanians scraping frost off the windshield, waiting for the school bus or commuting to work in the dark — before the sun rises.
Daylight saving time is the practice of moving clocks ahead one hour in March and back one hour in November.
The Sunshine Protection Act would eliminate those twice-yearly clock changes and keep the country on daylight saving time year-round. Supporters argue it would provide more evening daylight and eliminate the disruption caused by changing clocks. Critics say it could create noticeably darker winter mornings.
The tradeoff is more daylight when people are often finishing work, running errands or spending time outdoors.
In the Philadelphia region, the earliest sunset of the year currently occurs around 4:35 p.m. Under permanent daylight saving time, that sunset would shift to roughly 5:35 p.m.
Picture a typical January day in Pennsylvania: a child waiting for the school bus before sunrise, a commuter driving to work under streetlights and frost-covered windshields, then a sunset that doesn't arrive until after 5:30 p.m. That's the tradeoff at the center of the permanent daylight saving time debate.
Supporters say those brighter evenings could encourage outdoor activity and boost local businesses. Critics argue the extra evening light comes at the expense of darker mornings.
An extra hour of evening sunshine sounds appealing.
Until the school bus arrives before sunrise.
That's one reason the issue remains divisive. While many Americans dislike changing clocks twice a year, there is less agreement about whether permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time would be the better alternative. Previous efforts have stalled amid concerns about the effects of darker winter mornings.
For Pennsylvania families, the debate often comes down to a simple tradeoff: more daylight after dinner versus more daylight before school and work.
The Sunshine Protection Act recently passed the House but still requires Senate approval before it could become law. Similar proposals have surfaced before without making it across the finish line.
For now, Pennsylvanians should still expect to turn clocks back this fall.
And if permanent daylight saving time eventually arrives, the biggest change may not be the clock on the wall. It may be deciding whether you'd rather walk the dog after work in daylight or wait for the school bus before sunrise.
Maria Francis is a Pennsylvania-based journalist covering trending and breaking topics across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions for USA Today Network. Reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Will permanent daylight saving time leave you, your kids in the dark?