When it comes to daylight saving time, there are three kinds of people in this world.
The first are the well‑prepared, the ones who move their clocks ahead on Saturday night, so Sunday starts on the right foot. Then there are those who wait until the next morning and only change them when the numbers on the microwave finally stop matching how the day feels. And of course, there are the folks who miss the reminder entirely and spend part of Sunday an hour behind without realizing it.
However you handle the switch, it’s a routine that’s been with us for more than a century, rooted in old ideas about saving daylight, making better use of our mornings and squeezing in an extra hour of evening sun—ideas we’re still debating as more people question whether the time change is really worth the trouble.
The concept goes back to the 1890s, when George Vernon Hudson, an astronomer and entomologist in New Zealand, proposed shifting the clocks in spring and fall to increase daylight. A few years later, a British homebuilder, frustrated that people weren’t up early enough to enjoy the morning sun, pushed a similar idea. But for all their enthusiasm, neither proposal caught on.
Today, only two states—Hawaii and Arizona—skip daylight saving time altogether. Elsewhere, Europe, Canada and parts of Australia still turn their clocks forward and back, while Russia and much of Asia do not.
In the United States, things didn’t become standardized until after World War II, when a patchwork of local decisions left the country with a confusing mix of time practices. In 1966, Congress stepped in with the Uniform Time Act, requiring states to either observe daylight saving time statewide or opt out entirely, and setting the national start and end dates.
Daylight saving time has its fans. Some believe the extra evening light encourages outdoor activity and reduces energy use by cutting down on lighting. But critics have grown louder. A 2022 poll found that 61% of Americans favored ending the clock changes. Health experts have also raised concerns, pointing to increased heart risks, mental health impacts, workplace injuries and even a rise in car accidents tied to the disruption in sleep.
Efforts to eliminate daylight saving time on the national level have been introduced in three consecutive Congressional sessions, but none have made it into law.
Illinois lawmakers have tried their hand at it, too. House Bill 1400 would make daylight saving time the year‑round standard—if Congress ever allows states to do so. It was filed in January 2025 and most recently assigned to the State Government Administration Committee on Feb. 24, 2026. A separate Senate bill, SB 2926, aims to exempt Illinois from daylight saving time altogether. Another House bill would drop the time change only if Missouri and Iowa did the same. All three remain in committee.
These aren’t the first attempts to change Illinois’ approach to daylight saving time. Similar bills have surfaced over the years but stalled before reaching a final vote.
While public opinion strongly favors ending the time changes, people still disagree on which time should be permanent. Just as we all take a different approach to changing our clocks, we all have our own idea of when we want our extra sunlight. In the end, the only thing we seem to agree on is that the clock will keep moving—whether we like the time it shows or not.
