WASHINGTON – A push in Congress to make daylight saving time permanent could give Americans more evening sunlight year-round, but less morning light could affect sleep and change daily routines for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers.
The U.S. House passed the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, H.R. 139, in a 308-117 bipartisan vote July 14. The bill sponsored by Congressman Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide and stop the twice-yearly clock changes. But with the Senate yet to act, most Americans are still scheduled to turn their clocks back one hour on Sunday, Nov. 1, two days before Americans cast ballots in the mid-term elections.
Supporters say keeping daylight saving time year-round would give Americans more daylight after school and work. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie said the change could provide more opportunities for exercise, family activities, sporting events and other evening activities.
Buchanan also argued in sponsoring the bill that permanent daylight saving time could improve public safety and provide health and economic benefits.
Farm opposition has helped derail efforts to make daylight saving time permanent in the past. But some Oklahoma agricultural producers now say they would prefer a consistent time system, with many favoring more evening daylight.
KC Shepard, who grew up on a family farm in western Oklahoma and now serves as Farm Director for the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, said many agricultural producers she talks to prefer having more daylight in the evening but want consistency in the system.
“We would like to stay on the one that gives us more light quicker, but at least just sticking on one permanently because your cows don’t know when daylight saving time switches over, they don’t know that you’re going to come feed them an hour later or you’re going to come feed them an hour earlier,” Shepard said.
“Animals do not understand things like that, yeah, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to just keep switching back and forth,” she said noting consistency could be just as important to farmers as which standard time Congress chooses.
“Everybody I’ve heard wants to commit to one, like just do it,” Shepard said.
Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford has been a long supporter of ending the twice-yearly ritual of changing clocks.
When he introduced the Senate version of the legislation with Sen. Rick Scott (R, Florida) in January 2025, Lankford said “Twice a year Oklahomans ask themselves; why do we still have to change our clocks?... Let’s lock the clocks.”
The senate version of Buchanan’s legislation (S. 29) would also make daylight saving time the national year-round standard. Lankford is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
The Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 now awaits Senate action. The Senate is scheduled to return Sept. 14, but there is no guarantee the body will act because of shortened days in Washington due to the mid-term elections.
Chances of the Senate taking up the measure improved last month when President Donald Trump urged the Senate to pass the house legislation which was supported in the House by both U.S. Rep. Tom Cole of Moore and Rep. Frank Lucas, a rancher near Cheyenne, 130 miles west of Oklahoma City, when it passed the House.
Dr. Beth Malow, a professor of neurology and pediatrics in the Vanderbilt Sleep Division and a board-certified sleep medicine specialist, said permanent daylight saving time would shift more sunlight toward the afternoon and evening while delaying sunrise.
“We need morning light to align our circadian rhythms with the outside word,” Malow said.
She said morning light helps regulate sleep and can affect mood, while exposure to light later in the evening can make it harder for some to fall asleep.
“I would definitely keep the current system rather than switch to permanent daylight saving time,” Malow said.
Malow added children, essential workers and people living on the western edge of a time zone could be particularly affected because they would experience later sunrises under permanent daylight saving time.
For farmers, Shepard said, the biggest benefit might ultimately be avoiding another adjustment.
“I think they would just be very appreciative of the fact that at least it’s consistent at this point, and you don’t have to worry about changing something in the next six or eight months,” Shepard said.
Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net.