Falling back and springing forward could soon be a thing of the past in Florida under a new daylight saving bill.
State Bill 858 was approved by the Senate Community Affairs Committee on Tuesday in a vote of 6-0.
Under the proposed "Sunshine Protection Act," to authorize the state of Florida to observe daylight saving time year-round. This would mean Florida would become exempt from the twice-yearly time change.
The bill would also move to put all of Florida in the same time zone. Currently, much of the Panhandle is in the Central time zone, while the rest of the state is in the Eastern time zone. The bill requests that the Department of Transportation redesignate the portions of the state in the Central Time Zone into the Eastern Time Zone.
In order to make it to the Senate floor, the bill needs to be approved by the Commerce & Tourism Committee and Rules Committee.
If the bill is passed and signed by the Governor, the bill would go into effect on January 1, 2019.
Florida is just one of a number of states that is considering doing away with Daylight Savings Time. A Massachusetts state commission voted in favor of doing away with Daylight Savings late last year, though the state would likely not make the change without a majority of northeastern states also agreeing to do so. Some lawmakers in Maine have also expressed interest in Massahcusetts' plan.
Mary Stringini is a digital reporter for ABC Action News. Follow her on Twitter @MaryWFTS.
