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- Opinions differ on whether to make Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time permanent, even among Mississippi’s U.S. Senators.
The days are getting longer and the temperatures are rising across Mississippi. That means it is time to turn those clocks up an hour and spring forward once again into Daylight Saving Time.
Daylight Saving Time begins this Sunday, March 8 at 2 a.m. and runs through November 1.
Mississippi is among roughly two dozen states that have passed measures to end the practice should Congress decide to cease the bi-annual clock change. Yet, while legislation has routinely been filed at the federal level to support ending the winding of the clocks, a measure has never reached the President’s desk.
The debate centers on whether to make Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time permanent, with opinions differing on both sides of aisle.
The Magnolia State’s two U.S. Senators have even split on the issue, with Senator Roger Wicker (R) opposed to making Daylight Saving Time permanent and Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) championing it.
In speaking with The Hill in December 2024, Senator Wicker “recalled fierce public opposition and safety concerns that emerged when it was briefly tried in the 1970s.”
“In some states when we went on permanent daylight saving time, it became a safety issue and a very serious one. Basically, it required people who get up and go to work in the morning to do so in pitch darkness for quite a bit of the year,” Wicker said, per The Hill. “The reason you fall back is the further northern states greatly object to it.”
Then in January 2025, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith reaffirmed her support to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, joining Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) as an original cosponsor of the bipartisan Sunshine Protection Act of 2025.
“Changing the clocks twice a year creates unnecessary difficulties for many people in Mississippi, especially farmers who rely on daylight to manage their crops, livestock, and daily tasks, and permanent Daylight Saving Time would give them more consistency throughout the year. It would also help boost the economy, improve public safety, and offer important mental health benefits,” Hyde-Smith said.
Hawaii has never observed the annual time change and Arizona opted out of it in 1968.
Until common ground can be found, most of America will keep resetting those clocks each winter and spring.
Frank Corder
