It happens twice a year like clockwork. You wake up groggy, stumbling toward the coffee maker, wondering why the sun is already blinding you or why it’s pitch black at 4:30 PM. We’ve been promised an end to this. Back in 2019, Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill that was supposed to fix daylight savings time in Washington state forever. People cheered. We thought we were done with the "spring forward" heart attacks and the "fall back" seasonal depression.
But here we are in 2026, and the clocks are still moving. It's frustrating.
The reality is that Washington is caught in a weird legislative purgatory. We want to stay on permanent daylight saving time—the one where the sun stays out later in the summer—but we legally can’t. Not yet. The federal government holds the keys to the car, and they’ve basically gone missing. While the state legislature did its part years ago, a 1966 federal law called the Uniform Time Act says states can opt out of daylight saving time (staying on standard time forever, like Hawaii and Arizona), but they cannot choose to stay on daylight saving time year-round without a literal Act of Congress.
The 2019 law that went nowhere
Let’s look at the numbers because they’re actually pretty wild. When the Washington State Legislature took up House Bill 1196, it wasn't even a close fight. The Senate passed it 46-2. The House passed it 89-7. That is a level of bipartisan agreement you almost never see in Olympia. It felt like a slam dunk.
The plan was simple: once the feds gave the green light, we’d stop touching the clocks. We would keep that extra hour of evening light permanently. This wasn't just about having more time to grill salmon or hike at Mount Rainier. There’s some heavy science behind it. Researchers like those at the University of Washington have pointed out that the biannual shift messes with our circadian rhythms. When we shift the clocks in the spring, there is a measurable uptick in heart attacks and workplace injuries. People are tired. Tired people make mistakes.
Honestly, the "fall back" isn't much better. Sure, you get an "extra" hour of sleep for exactly one night, but then you're hit with the soul-crushing reality of leaving work in total darkness. In Seattle, where the gray skies are already a vibe, losing that afternoon light is a major contributor to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
Why hasn't Congress fixed this?
You've probably heard of the Sunshine Protection Act. Senator Marco Rubio has been banging this drum for years on the federal level. In 2022, it actually passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent. For a brief moment, it looked like daylight savings time in Washington state would finally become the permanent standard.
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Then it hit a wall in the House of Representatives.
Why? Because the "standard time" lobby is surprisingly loud. Sleep experts, including groups like the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, actually argue that we have it backwards. They want permanent standard time. They argue that our internal biology is better aligned with the sun being directly overhead at noon, which happens during standard time. They worry that permanent daylight saving time would mean kids in Northern states—like ours—would be waiting for school buses in pitch-black darkness until 9:00 AM in the middle of December.
Imagine a December morning in Spokane. If we stayed on daylight saving time, the sun wouldn't rise until nearly 8:30 or 9:00 AM. That’s a lot of dark morning commuting.
The West Coast Pact
Washington isn't an island in this. We’ve basically formed a "time zone pact" with Oregon, California, and British Columbia. Nobody wants to be the weirdo state that is an hour off from their neighbors. It would be a logistical nightmare for flights, Amtrak Cascades, and business meetings.
- Oregon passed similar legislation.
- California voters approved a ballot measure.
- British Columbia has the paperwork ready to go.
We’re all just standing at the border, waiting for someone in D.C. to sign a piece of paper. It’s a classic case of "after you," "no, after you," but on a massive bureaucratic scale.
The health and safety tax
Let's get real about the cost of this indecision. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine suggests that the transition to daylight saving time leads to a 6% increase in fatal traffic accidents during the work week following the switch. Think about that. We are literally risking lives for a tradition that started to save candles during the World Wars.
In Washington, our tech-heavy economy (think Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing) relies on high-functioning, alert humans. Sleep deprivation is basically a tax on productivity. When we mess with daylight savings time in Washington state, we aren't just changing clocks; we're jolting the biology of millions of people simultaneously. It’s a massive, unconsented public health experiment.
Common myths about the "Farmers"
I hear this all the time: "Oh, it's for the farmers."
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Nope. Farmers actually hate the clock change. Cows don't care what the clock says; they need to be milked when they need to be milked. If you shift the clock, the farmer just has to get up "earlier" relative to the rest of society to stay on the animal's schedule. The history of daylight saving is actually tied more to urban retailers and the golf industry. More light in the evening means more people stopping at shops on the way home or hitting the driving range. It was never about the wheat fields in the Palouse.
What happens next?
Right now, we are stuck in a loop. Unless Congress passes the Sunshine Protection Act or a similar waiver, we will continue to change our clocks on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November.
There is a small movement in Olympia to pivot. Some lawmakers have suggested that if we can't get federal approval for permanent daylight saving time, we should just switch to permanent standard time instead. We don't need federal permission for that. But the public pushback is huge. Washingtonians love their late summer sunsets. The idea of the sun setting at 8:00 PM instead of 9:00 PM in July is a tough sell for a state that lives for its short window of perfect weather.
Preparing for the shift
Since we know the change is coming, you have to play the game. Doctors usually recommend "pre-adjusting." A few days before the spring switch, start going to bed 15 minutes earlier each night. It sounds like a hassle, but it beats the Monday morning brain fog.
- Increase light exposure in the morning immediately after the switch.
- Avoid heavy caffeine after noon during the transition week.
- Be extra cautious on the I-5 or I-90 commutes the Monday after "springing forward."
Until the federal government decides to prioritize our circadian rhythms over 1960s-era regulations, daylight savings time in Washington state remains a twice-yearly headache we just have to endure. Keep your eyes on the federal docket, but don't hold your breath.
Actionable Steps for Washington Residents:
- Check your smoke detectors: Use the clock change as a biannual reminder to replace batteries in life-saving devices. It’s the easiest way to remember.
- Audit your lighting: If you struggle with the "fall back" in November, invest in a 10,000 lux light therapy lamp. Use it for 20 minutes in the morning to offset the early darkness.
- Advocate locally: If you have a strong preference for Standard vs. Daylight time, contact your federal representatives. They are the only ones who can actually end the "leap" for Washington.
- Plan your commute: Be aware that the first week after any clock change sees a spike in distracted and drowsy driving. Give yourself an extra ten minutes of buffer time.