Will This Be The Last Year Colorado “Falls Back”?

Could 2022 really be the last year we turn back our clocks here in Colorado?

The answer to that is: possibly, yes. 

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Back in June, Gov. Polis signed “Daylight Saving Time Year-Round,” formally recognized as HB22-1297, into law.

About "Daylight Saving Time Year-Round" Bill, HB22-1297

During the period of daylight saving time (the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November) time is advanced by one hour.

In the event the bill is federally signed into law - amongst other factors - this bill would make daylight saving time, defined as coordinated universal time minus 6 hours, the year-round standard time within the state of Colorado. Daylight saving time would be permanently instated only under the following conditions:

• federal law is enacted to allow states to remain on daylight saving time year-round
• at least 4 states in the mountain standard time zone, in addition to Colorado, enact legislation making daylight saving time the states' standard time throughout the year

What states are a part of the Mountain time zone?

“There is increasing consensus that just sort of arbitrarily switching the clocks twice a year is confusing and somewhat counterproductive for everybody and upsets people’s sleep cycles”.

When do we "fall back" this year? 

This year, we'll turn our clocks back at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 6.

Will this be the final time we turn our clocks back? 

In March 2022, the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent passed legislation without warning to make daylight saving permanent as of 2023, should the U.S. House and president agree, CBS News reported. 

The bill, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, earned 17 cosponsors from both parties in the upper chamber and was passed by unanimous consent. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican has been a proponent of making the clock change permanent and led the push to pass the bill.

"The good news is if we can get this passed, we don't have to keep doing this stupidity anymore," Rubio said on the Senate floor back in March.

"Hopefully this is the year that this gets done and, pardon the pun, but this is an idea whose time has come."

A study conducted by Monmouth University revealed that six in 10 Americans said they'd prefer making daylight saving time permanent, rather than the standard biannual clock-changing practice we currently abide by, which was created during World War I in an effort to conserve energy.

So, what happens next? 

Should the Sunshine Protection Act be signed into federal law, the bill would make daylight saving time the new, permanent standard time as of Nov. 5, 2023 - that would mean that we'd "spring forward" next March and wouldn't "fall back" in November 2023.

The House Must Vote - But When?

Several states across the U.S. might be ready to do away with 'changing the clocks', but the House must vote to sign the bill into law before we do away with falling back. However, officials are unsure if that vote will happen in 2022.

“It’s unclear if the House will vote this year, given everything else on the agenda once they return after the elections,” Ben Husch, natural resources and infrastructure committee director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, told USA TODAY in an email.