Daylight savings: When does Florida change clocks, fall back?

It’s time to think about daylight saving time.

Despite efforts to permanently end daylight saving time in Florida and beyond, the age-old practice ends for 2024 in November, on the first Sunday after Halloween.

Daylight saving time began in March, always on the second Sunday of that month, when we set our wall clocks one hour ahead for "spring forward." In November, daylight saving time "ends," and we'll change our wall clocks back one hour or "fall back" — unless you live in a state or area that does not observe daylight saving time.

For years, lawmakers tried to permanently end daylight saving time via the Sunshine Protection Act, with bills introduced in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023. However, the bills were never passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, and they have never been signed into law.

Below are things to know about the Sunshine Protection Act, reasons why we still fall back, spring forward and other facts about daylight saving time.

According to timeanddate.com, "daylight saving time is the practice of setting the clocks one hour ahead of standard time to make use of more sunlight in the spring, summer, and fall evenings. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Canada."

Daylight saving time became a national standard in 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, which was established as a way to continue to conserve energy. The thinking was, if it's light out longer, that's less time you'll need to use lights in your home.

Daylight saving time for 2024 began at 2 a.m. EST Sunday, March 10, for "spring forward" and ends at 2 a.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 3, for "fall back." Fun fact: Election Day 2024 is Tuesday, Nov. 5, two days after daylight saving time begins.

In the past, the daylight saving time range was between late February and late October. It has been the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday after Halloween since 2007 because of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. After it was passed, it went into effect in 2007.

Daylight saving time for 2025 will be at 2 a.m. EST Sunday, March 9, for "spring forward" and 2 a.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, for "fall back."

What time is it?There are 2 times zones in Florida, and one county has them both

Those who support ending daylight saving time permanently advocate brighter afternoons and more economic activity. In Florida, ending daylight saving time could help tourism, legislators say.

The Sunshine Protection Act would permanently extend daylight saving time from eight months of the year to the full 12 months. The bill was first introduced in March 2018 by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida and Rep. Vern Buchanan. The pair reintroduced the bill, along with other sponsors, in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

The bill would make daylight saving time permanent across the U.S., but so far, the measure has not yet been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, nor has it been signed into law by President Biden.

Rubio sponsored the bill in the Senate while Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, filed the House companion bills.

Not exactly. Benjamin Franklin was likely one of the first to talk about daylight saving time in the 1780s, presumably to save money on candles.

While daylight saving time was Ben Franklin's idea, we don't know for sure if he invented it. Daylight saving time was used sporadically starting with World War I for various reasons, then made the law of the land in 1967.

During the 1973 oil embargo, it became a one-year-long experiment to see how much oil it would save.

According to dictionary.com, daylight saving, commonly referred to as daylight savings, "is begun in the spring by setting clocks one hour ahead. They are then set one hour back in the fall. ... People often use the simple mnemonic spring forward, fall back to remember to set clocks forward one hour (e.g., from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m.) in the spring and backward one hour (e.g., from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m.) in the fall."

This has been a popular search topic: Did candy makers have anything to do with daylight saving time changes?

An NPR report in March 2007 addressed the query during an "All Things Considered" interview with host Melissa Block and Michael Downing, author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time."

"This may be kind of an urban legend, but I thought I had heard that one of the backers behind extending Daylight Saving Time into the beginning of November was the candy industry, and it all had to do with Halloween," Block said in the NRP excerpt.

"This is no kind of legend," Downing responded, adding, "this is the truth. For 25 years, candy-makers have wanted to get trick-or-treat covered by Daylight Saving, figuring that if children have an extra hour of daylight, they'll collect more candy."

A 2020 story in USA TODAY also mentioned the Halloween-daylight saving time tie: "Lobbyists for the golf industry told Congress in 1986 that just one hour of extra natural light during the day would result in about $200 million in extra sales; the barbecue industry estimated extra revenue for them would be around $100 million. The candy lobby wanted to benefit as well, claiming one more hour of sunlight on Halloween would result in more trick or treating and therefore more candy purchases," the story states.

In reality, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time from the first Sunday in April to the second Sunday in March (three or four weeks earlier than the previous law), and in the fall from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November (one week later than the previous law), according to a U.S. Department of Energy report. It went into effect in 2007.

Most of Florida is in the Eastern Time Zone, except for Pensacola, Panama City, Marianna, Chipley, Defuniak Springs, Valparaiso, Fort Walton Beach and Crestview.

The U.S. Department of Transportation oversees the nation's time zones and the uniform observance of daylight saving time, according to transportation.gov. The oversight of time zones was assigned to the DOT to help keep track of transportation. The DOT manages daylight saving time and cites energy reduction and reduced crime as reasons for the time change.

Arizona and Hawaii do not recognize DST. There's also no need to change the clocks in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Likely the No. 1 complaint about daylight saving time is the disruption of sleep and habit.

Safety is another hot topic: Schoolchildren at bus stops became the issue, and after eight Florida school kids died in accidents, Florida Gov. Reuben Askew led an effort to curtail daylight saving time to eight months between late February and late October.

Contributing: Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post; Jesse Mendoza, Herald-Tribune; KiMi Robinson, Arizona Republic

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.