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March 12 marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. On that day, all the clocks will roll back to give everyone an extra hour of daytime. Though the practice made sense when it was first enacted, the jump forward and then back again has recently lost its charm.

If the recent legislature succeeds, Daylight Savings Time may become adopted year-round. In 2021, Alabama state legislatures joined over a dozen states in passing a bill to eliminate standard daylight time. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville expressed support for the bill in Congress last week.

“When it first began, it was started because it would help farmers. It would help schools for heating and cooling and different things,” said State Representative Debbie Wood. “But I just don’t think that applies any longer, and I just think that it would be easier on the public if we kept Daylight Savings Time year round.”

Though the state has passed the bill, Congress needs to pass a law before it can be enacted. Though it was passed in the Senate last year, it wasn’t voted on in the House. 

“It takes federal legislation. We can’t make that decision on our own,” Wood said.

Daylight Savings Time is the time of year when the day has an extra hour before sunset. It lasts from March to November in order to give farmers and schools more time to work. But Wood emphasized that it’s not a time zone issue.

“I think people misunderstand that,” Wood said. “Because it’s not Central Time. It’s not Mountain Time, Pacific Eastern. It’s not a time zone.”

Chambers County has struggled over central versus eastern time zones. Many citizens are wary of any talk of changing times. The Chambers County School District has said that the school would move to the central time zone if the consolidated high school is built in Valley. Wood said DST would be a good time to make the switch over to central time.

“I think it would be a perfect time if we had to adjust to a central time zone,” Wood said.