Prepare for darker evenings. Daylight saving time ends Sunday

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – It’s almost time to kiss that extra hour of daylight in the evenings goodbye. Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 6. 

In 2022, daylight saving time began on March 13, when clocks sprang forward an hour in participating parts of the United States and other countries. This meant that through the summer months, the sun rose and set an hour later than it normally would. 

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Benjamin Franklin first suggested daylight saving time in an essay in 1784, but the practice wasn’t widely adopted until World War I when countries realized adjusting the clocks could save them fuel by reducing the need for artificial light. 

During World War II, the U.S. kept its clocks ahead one hour from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945.  

In 1986, U.S. lawmakers passed a bill that ordered daylight saving time to begin the first Sunday in April the following year and decided it would end the last Sunday of October. In 2007, the U.S. changed the start and end dates of Daylight Saving Time to the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. 

All states but Hawaii and Arizona observe daylight saving time. 

In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill in 2019 that could allow the state to adopt daylight saving time year-round. In order to take effect, all three West Coast States must also decide to adopt year-round daylight saving time and get approval from U.S. lawmakers. 

The Washington Legislature also passed a bill in 2019 to remain permanently in daylight saving time if the U.S. Congress votes to allow the country to stay in it. 

California considered a bill to adopt the change in 2022, but it did not pass. 

Congress has been debating a bill called the Sunshine Protection Act in recent years that would make daylight saving time permanent in the U.S. However, it has not fully passed or been signed into law yet. 

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., supported the bipartisan bill in 2021. 

When the bill passed the Senate in 2021, Murray said, “No more dark afternoons in the winter. No more losing an hour of sleep every spring… The clock is ticking to get the job done so we never have to switch our clocks again.”

The bill did not pass the House in 2021. 

A poll conducted in October 2021 by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs found that only 25% of Americans said they’d rather switch back and forth between standard and daylight saving time. 

Of those polled, 43% want to stay on standard time year-round, while 32% would prefer clocks stay on daylight saving time. 

The poll found that remaining on daylight saving time year-round is more popular with adults age 60 and older.

For now, while the Oregon bill, Washington bill and national proposed law sit in limbo, the country will once again wind its clocks backwards. 

At least in November, an extra hour of sleep is gained.