TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Daylight Saving Time may soon be abolished in the Sunshine State if Florida lawmakers pass proposed legislation to put an end to the practice of setting clocks back and forward every six months.
Florida House Bill 1013 and its companion Florida Senate Bill 858 both passed committees and will now move to a vote before the entire legislative branches.
Unlike northern states in the continental U.S. that only experience around 9 hours of daylight during the shortest days of Winter, Florida has over 10 hours of daylight during the shortest day of the year – the Winter Solstice.
If the bills pass both legislative branches and Governor Rick Scott signs ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’ into law, Florida would then ask the U.S. Congress for an exemption to Daylight Savings Time, which has already been granted to the sunny states Arizona and Hawaii.
History of Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Savings Time started in Europe during World War I as a way to economize fuel usage. The United States started Daylight Savings Time a year after WWI ended in 1918.
Benjamin Franklin did not propose Daylight Saving Time. This misconception grew out of the proverb “Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” that was published in Franklin’s Poor Richards’ Almanac.
How to Correctly Spell and Say Daylight Saving Time
Is it “Daylight Savings Time” or “Daylight Saving Time”? The correct term is without the “s” but the added “s” has become widely used in the United States.
Daylight Saving Time Bad For Your Health
Losing an hour of sleep is bad for your health, studies find. The overall rate for stroke was 8% higher and heart attacks 10% higher in the days following the daylight saving time change.
Image credit: Wikicommons
