Hardly anybody likes changing their clocks twice a year. The time change disrupts sleep cycles and has plenty of other effects on health, as my friend and colleague Sarah Anderson wrote about earlier this month.
I like Daylight Saving Time because of the later sunsets. I know a lot of people are vehemently against it, but it’s what I prefer. But honestly, I’d be happy with Standard Time year-round if it meant not having to change the clocks.
Georgia’s General Assembly passed legislation in 2021 that would keep Georgia permanently on Daylight Saving Time, and Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law. The problem is that it would literally take an act of Congress to make that state law binding.
This year, Georgia lawmakers have an interesting idea for putting the Peach State on permanent Daylight Saving Time. It’s called the Georgia Sunshine Protection Act.
HB 154, the “Georgia Sunshine Protection Act,” would require the Governor to request that the United States Secretary of Transportation place Georgia in the Atlantic Standard Time zone by December 31, 2026. If approved, the bill would require Georgia to observe Atlantic Standard…
— Georgia State Senate (@GASenatePress) March 23, 2026
The Georgia Sunshine Protection Act passed the House last year, and the Senate passed it this year. It’s back in the hands of House members because of changes the Senate made. But buckle up, kids, because this law provides a crazy way to end clock-changing in Georgia.
Recommended: The Left Mistook a Salvation Metaphor for a Death Threat
“If signed into law, the governor would be required to ask the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to move Georgia to the Atlantic Standard Time zone until such time as Congress authorizes states to observe Daylight Saving Time year-round,” the Athens Banner-Herald reports.
“This would make Georgia an hour ahead of its neighbors, Florida and South Carolina, which are in the Eastern time zone, from November to March,” The Hill explains. “But, once the clocks jump ahead an hour at the start of daylight saving time, it would be the same time in all three states (except the part of Florida in the Central time zone).”
In other words, when Georgia’s neighbors “fall back” in November, Georgia’s clocks wouldn’t move under this new legislation. That would mean that if somebody traveled to Alabama, the Florida panhandle, or most of Tennessee between November and March, he would experience a two-hour time zone switch.
Erick Erickson explored some of the effects of such a time zone change in an opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
While we may all be tired of springing forward and falling backward, moving us to the Atlantic time zone to get out of it would put Georgia — the state furthest west in the Eastern time zone — an hour ahead of New York City and the East Coast for four months of the year.
The state would be two hours ahead of Alabama about the time we play the University of Alabama. Should Georgia make it to the SEC Championship, the game would start at 7 p.m. for the East Coast, but in Georgia, the game would actually start at 8 p.m., keeping our kids up unreasonably late.
In fact, sporting events that people in Georgia care about, particularly football, would all be advanced an hour.
Sunday Night Football, the most-watched show weekly in America, would not end until midnight or later.
Other states, including Florida and some New England states, have considered similar legislation. I’m all for getting rid of changing clocks — and bonus if we can have the longer evening daylight of Daylight Saving Time — but changing time zones to do so is too convoluted. Ending the madness of time changes shouldn’t be this difficult.
If you’re shaking your head at yet another absurd government workaround, you’re exactly the kind of reader who belongs with PJ Media VIP. Join today for exclusive reporting, uncensored analysis, and commentary that doesn’t pretend foolishness is wisdom. Use the promo code FIGHT for 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member