It's time to spring the clocks forward an hour, with daylight saving time arriving at 2 a.m. Sunday, which means darker mornings and losing an hour of sleep.
And, once again, Congress is taking up whether to end what many see as an antiquated practice of changing back and forth each fall and spring that results in public health and safety risks, including an uptick in heart attacks and car accidents whenever the switch-overs occur, disrupting the nation's sleep patterns.
On March 2, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced legislation dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, which is similar to a bill that unanimously passed in the Senate last year but did not go to a House vote, that would make daylight saving time permanent.
Under the federal Uniform Time Act, states only have two options: spring forward at the appointed time each year or just stay on standard time, which Arizona and Hawaii have opted to do. But it will take an act of Congress for states to keep that extra hour of daylight.
So, even though California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 7 to switch permanently over to daylight saving time back in 2018, the ballot measure still needs to be ratified by a two-thirds vote in the state Senate, which hasn’t happened yet.
When and if it does, California would join a dozen other states still waiting for the required Congressional approval to make the move.
In the meantime, don't forget to set your clocks ahead an hour before going to sleep Saturday night and remember to check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.