Florida Men Want Florida Time: Sens. Rubio, Scott Push to Keep Daylight Saving Time Year-Round

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Florida families have had enough upheaval and stress from trying to navigate working from home and virtual classrooms during this pandemic, so Florida’s senators think they shouldn’t have to worry about changing their clocks back an hour this fall.

Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) have filed a bill that would put Florida on year-round daylight saving time and skip the time change scheduled for November 1. If enacted, the bill would extend daylight saving time to November 7, 2021.

In a press release announcing the bill, Rubio and Scott said their goal was to “provide one year of stability for families who are already dealing with enough change with virtual learning, work from home, and other disruptions the COVID-19 pandemic has placed into our daily lives.”

“Our government has asked a lot of the American people over the past seven months, and keeping the nation on Daylight Saving Time is just one small step we can take to help ease the burden,” said Rubio. “More daylight in the after school hours is critical to helping families and children endure this challenging school year. Studies have shown many benefits of a year-round Daylight Saving Time, and while I believe we should make it permanent all year around, I urge my colleagues to — at the very least — work with me to avoid changing the clocks this fall.”

This isn’t their first foray into battling time — when Scott was governor of Florida in 2018, he signed a bill to put Florida on permanent daylight saving time — but actually putting it into effect requires federal legislation. Rubio has filed previous bills seeking to do so, but they have stalled.

The senators’ press release notes that about a dozen other states have already passed similar legislation or ballot propositions, and another dozen are considering doing so. They also provided a list of benefits of permanent daylight saving time, including reduced risk of cardiac issues and seasonal depression, reduction of car crashes and accidents involving pedestrians, benefits to agriculture, reduction in energy usage, and a reduction in robberies.

If the Florida Men fail to stop the time change, daylight saving time would end November 1, 2020 and resume March 14, 2021.