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- Utah Rep. Joseph Elison is sponsoring a bill to eliminate daylight saving time.
- The bill passed the House Government Operations Committee and awaits a full House vote.
- If approved by the House and Senate, Utah will remain on standard time year-round starting Jan. 1, 2026.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Rep. Joseph Elison, R-Washington, is sponsoring a bill to keep Utah perpetually on standard time until the federal government allows Utah to observe Mountain Daylight Time year-round, and it favorably passed in the House Government Operations Committee on Wednesday afternoon.
The bill will proceed to the chamber floor this session for a full House vote.
Current law defined in the Uniform Time Act of 1966 allows states to opt out of daylight saving time and observe standard time year-round. However it does not give states the right to observe only daylight saving time.
For years, members of the Utah Legislature have wanted to do away with time changes, and in 2020, SB59 was the first bill to pass both bodies to put Utah on year-round Mountain Daylight Time.
Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed the bill into law, contingent on four other Western states joining Utah and federal law allowing the shift.
This new bill speeds up the timeline to relieve Utah of daylight saving time. If passed in the Senate and signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, Elison's bill would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and exempt Utah from advancing an hour forward on March 9.
House representatives voice support and concerns
Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, spoke on behalf of an underrepresented demographic he believes would greatly benefit from switching to standard time year-round: his dogs.
"I have three dogs — they are going to love this," Maloy said. "When we moved the clock, you should see their eyes when it's the old dinner time versus the new dinner time, so they're going to love this."
More seriously, Rep. Doug Fiefia, R-Herriman, asked, "How will this change Utah's coordination with other states that follow daylight saving time?"
Back in 2020 when the bill was first discussed, "There were all sorts of concerns," Elison said, mentioning concerns including coordinating with airlines and the trucking industry.
Elison continued, "Trucks have been coming in and out of Arizona since the '60s. There seems to be OK movement, right?" However, the only industry that has reached out to Elison with concerns is the golf industry.
Then he addressed Fiefia's second concern about spreading awareness that Utah would be sticking just to standard time. "If this is able to pass in Utah, trust me, there will not be a soul in the United States who won't know about it," he said.
The history of daylight saving time in Utah and the US
In 1918, the Standard Time Act established time zones used by U.S. railroads as the national standard. The act also introduced daylight saving time as an effort to save fuel after the outbreak of World War I.
However, The Congress Project reported that when daylight saving time was introduced, it "was met with much confusion across the country." Daylight saving time was largely disliked by Americans and congressmen alike, but when the Senate and the House passed a bill to repeal the law in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson vetoed it.
Still determined to get rid of daylight saving time, Congress passed another law a month later to remove it, and Wilson vetoed it again. But this time, Congress' repeal to the veto passed, and daylight saving time disappeared until World War II.
During the Second World War, daylight saving time came back for its original reasons — to save energy. However, this time, daylight saving time had a time limit, so it expired in 1945 when the war ended.
Then, again in 1966, daylight saving time was reestablished and has been the standard in all 50 states except for Arizona and Hawaii, which only run on standard time.
