Could This Be The Last Time You Change Your Clocks In Illinois?

Here it comes again.  Time to change your clock.  On Sunday, November 5 we'll "fall back" and gain an hour (that we lost in the spring) of time.  While most of us will set our clocks back Saturday night before we go to sleep, some of us may wait till Sunday morning when we realize everything is a little off.

Will this be the last time in Illinois and Iowa we fall back or change our clocks at all?  Parents sure hope so.

How Does Time Change Affect Kids?

According to a survey conducted by Baby Center, nearly 70% of parents want the time changes to stop. The extra hour of sleep, or the losing an hour of sleep, takes most kids 3 or more days to adjust.

Experts recommend standard time as well. Pediatric sleep experts and organizations, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, advocate for the permanency of standard time (vs. daylight saving time) as it better aligns with our circadian rhythm, which is especially true in the case of young kids who are naturally early risers.

Does It Work Well In States That Don't Change Time?

Could we enjoy more sunsets like this in the Quad Cities if we were like other places in America that do not observe Daylight Saving Time?

Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa do not have Daylight Saving Time and do not change their clocks at all.

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Having lived in Arizona for a while, I can tell you that it's fantastic.  You don't have to worry about losing an hour or gaining an hour.  The sun comes up and goes down on schedule.  It all works.

The only downside is communicating with the outside of Arizona world.  Telling family "Well now we're on Pacific time" and "Now we're on Mountain time" (which is not actually true it's always Mountain Time but explaining DST and Standard Time was more complicated) was mildly a pain.

And for me working in radio, we'd have problems (again dealing with the outside world) with the timing of sports and shows.  But if the rest of the country would follow Arizona it would be perfect!

Will This Be The Last Time Illinois and Iowa Change Clocks?

So could this be the last time you have to change your clocks?  In March of 2022, the Senate unanimously passed the "Sunshine Protection Act".

The act would extend Daylight Saving Time from 8 months (March-November) to a year-round clock.  We all cheered and thought our sleep schedule was going to finally be stable.  Yet, here we are.

The bill was sent from the Senate to The House on March 16, 2022.   It was received in The House and then "Held at the desk".  And there it sat till it expired.  Something that a majority of Americans want, and the elected officials just let it sit "on a desk".

The "Sunshine Protection Act of 2023" was reintroduced on March 2 to make daylight saving time permanent.

According to NBC 7, The House of Representatives must first pass the bill, then President Joe Biden must sign it before we can stop changing our clocks.

So here we are, waiting for the government to fix something the people want fixed.  So to answer the question "Could this be the last time we fall back in the Quad Cities?", don't hold your breath because it's in the hands of the government.  But be sure to hold your clocks, because on Saturday/Sunday, you'll have to change them again.