daylight savings ends 2026 is on legislative and state agendas as most of the United States prepares to set clocks forward at 2 a. m. local time on Sunday, March 8 (ET). State governments, federal legislators and regional leaders are weighing whether to keep changing clocks or move to a permanent time regime. The debate is framed by health research, a century of history and recent bills at both the state and federal level.
Daylight Savings Ends 2026 — What happens this spring
At 2 a. m. local time on Sunday, March 8 (ET), the majority of U. S. states will set clocks one hour ahead; many digital devices will change automatically. The immediate effect is the loss of one hour of sleep and a shift that pushes sunrise and sunset one hour later until clocks fall back in November. The twice-yearly practice remains controversial because of documented disruptions to sleep and public health, with research linking the clock change to increased strokes, heart attacks and sleep deprivation, particularly among teenagers.
How states and territories differ
Observance of daylight saving time is a state-level decision. Hawaii and most of Arizona, with the exception of the Navajo Nation, do not observe the practice. U. S. territories that do not observe daylight saving time include American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In North America, much of Canada and parts of Mexico near the U. S. border participate in the clock change; British Columbia’s Premier David Eby announced the province is switching to permanent daylight time, to be called “Pacific Time. ” International participation varies: most of Europe observes the change with exceptions such as Iceland, Russia and Belarus; much of Africa and Asia do not participate, though Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus and Egypt do; in South America only Chile and Paraguay currently observe daylight saving time, and none of the Central American countries do.
Legislative fights, history and what’s next
Daylight saving time was created in 1918 to allow extra sunlight and save fuel costs during World War I, and it was reinstated during World War II and again during the early 1970s energy crisis. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established a federal schedule for states that choose to participate. At the federal level, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have versions of the Sunshine Protection Act intended to make daylight saving time permanent; that bill was reintroduced in January 2025 (ET) in the 119th Congress and remains stalled in congressional committees. In February 2026 (ET), Rep. Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida, introduced the Daylight Act of 2026. At the state level, bills calling for permanent standard time and permanent daylight saving time are nearly evenly split.
What comes next will play out in state legislatures and congressional committees. Lawmakers at both levels are the immediate battlegrounds for any move away from the twice-yearly clock change; the Sunshine Protection Act’s status in committee and new state bills will determine whether the ritual continues or ends. For now, households should prepare for the spring forward on March 8 (ET) and the health impacts tied to the change as the policy debate continues over daylight savings ends 2026.
