Beginning to see the light? As you may have heard, a new bill passed the US Senate that would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent in March 2023.
Of course the Sunshine Protection Act , co-sponsored by our own Sen. Patty Murray , still needs to get through the U.S. House of Representatives and President Joe Biden to become law, but it’s become quite the hot topic .
This could play out here in Seattle a couple of different ways. On the shortest day of the year (Dec. 21), our sun rises at 7:55 a.m. and sets at 4:20 p.m. The change would mean that our sun would instead stay up until almost 5:30 p.m. that day. Woohoo 🎉
And while that’s something a lot of folks can get behind (us, included), many are also concerned with a later sunrise — which would be 8:55 a.m. on the shortest day. As a few Seattleites have pointed out, 9 a.m. is well after some Seattle students have to be in school. Safety concerns associated with dark commutes were a part of the reason the permanent DST was repealed in the 70s.
More light-heartedly, a Seattle Times column makes the argument that our city’s population has more night owls than early birds — mornings may be pretty sleepy.
However, according to UW School of Law professor Steve Calandrillo , later sunsets could bring a reduction in crime as night tends to be the “preferred workday” of criminals. Plus, shifting daylight into the p.m. would mean rush hour stays a little lighter — and potentially safer.