Congressional proposal would fuck with Colorado daylight hours

Other than Arizona, Hawaii and a handful of United States territories, we all have to move our clocks an hour back and then forward each year for daylight savings. Congress may alter that soon, making those weekends in March and November slightly less confusing. But it could bring big changes to Colorado sunrises and sunsets.

The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill that would make the time observed during daylight savings from March to November permanent. The bill, backed by President Donald Trump, will now move on to the Senate, which doesn’t take on Trump’s goals as fast or fervently as the House. The idea of switching to one permanent time setting has come up in Congress before, however, most recently in 2022… when the Senate passed the bill but the House didn’t.

Political posturing aside, a permanent move to daylight time would significantly alter mornings and evenings in Colorado. Here’s why.

Sunshine Protection Act looms over Colorado

Dubbed the Sunshine Protection Act, the bill proposing permanent daylight time would immediately take effect in 19 states if passed by the Senate. Colorado is one of them, although state lawmakers could theoretically pass legislation beforehand to opt out of the change.

In Denver, which operates under the Mountain Time zone, the move to daylight time would eliminate the need to move our clocks back an hour in November, resulting in later sunrises and sunsets during the winter months. Sunrises would take place as late as 8 or 8:20 a.m. in the peak of winter, and sunsets would be pushed back closer to 4:30 p.m.

Advocates for the Sunshine Protection Act argue that moving clocks back and forward each year hurts the economy and daytime activities, while opponents have said that daylight time during the winter would hurt the development of children, some of whom would arrive to school in the dark.

Support and resistance toward the bill has come from Democrats and Republicans — but both sides are forgetting the most important thing at stake here: the Lakeview Lounge’s annual 7 a.m. Tequila Sunrise party, held each March when daylight savings ends.

It must be protected. And for that simple reason, we oppose the switch.