Will Florida ever stop changing its clocks under the Miami Sunshine Protection Act?
The Florida legislature voted to stay on daylight saving time in 2018. The bill passed with bipartisan support. Governor Rick Scott signed it. It never took effect.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 gives the Department of Transportation authority over time zones and DST. States can opt out of DST entirely. Arizona and Hawaii did that. States cannot opt into permanent daylight saving time without Congress saying yes. As of 2026, Congress has not said yes.
Senator Marco Rubio introduced the federal Sunshine Protection Act to grant that permission. In March 2022, the Senate passed it by unanimous consent. The House never voted on it. The bill has been reintroduced in later sessions but remains stalled. So Miami still switches clocks twice a year, forward in March, back in November, on the same schedule as New York and Chicago.
How permanent DST would shift Miami’s daylight
If the federal bill ever becomes law, Miami stops switching between EST (UTC-5) and EDT (UTC-4). The city stays on EDT all twelve months.
Here is what that does to the clock relative to the sun.
Winter mornings go dark. On the December solstice (21 December 2026), Miami sunrise is 07:02 and sunset is 17:34. Under permanent DST, the clock shifts one hour later. Children heading to school, construction crews starting early, anyone with a commute before 08:00 does it in the dark. This is exactly what killed the 1973-1974 permanent DST experiment. The public hated dark mornings more than they liked light evenings.
Summer evenings stretch later. On the June solstice (21 June 2026), Miami sunrise is 06:29 and sunset is 20:14. Tourists on South Beach get an extra hour of evening light. Families with young children get a harder bedtime.
The transitions vanish. No more losing an hour of sleep in March. No more gaining one in November. No more confusion about whether a 14:00 call is EST or EDT. The trade-off: the twice-yearly disruption is replaced by a fixed offset that is always one hour ahead of solar time.
Would Miami still be in the same time zone?
Yes. Miami’s IANA zone would remain America/New_York. The city would still sit in the Eastern Time Zone. The gap with London would shrink to 4 hours in winter instead of 5, so UK callers get a slightly later start. The difference with Los Angeles stays at 3 hours. Chicago stays 1 hour behind.
Business hours, school start times, rush hour, none of those change. Only the relationship between the clock and the sun shifts.
What the Miami Sunshine Protection Act is not
It is not a Florida-only law. The federal version applies to every state that currently observes DST. Arizona and Hawaii stay on standard time unless they choose to switch.
It is not a repeal of DST. It is the opposite: it makes DST permanent.
It is not popular with sleep researchers. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine opposes permanent DST and supports permanent standard time. Their argument: standard time aligns better with human circadian rhythms. Morning light helps people wake. Evening light delays sleep onset.
Why Miami’s latitude makes the morning problem worse
Miami sits at 25.77°N, farther south than most of the Eastern Time Zone. Winter daylight is short: 10 hours 32 minutes on the December solstice. The December solstice sunrise is already 07:02. Permanent DST pushes it one hour later. That is a noticeable shift for a subtropical city where people expect light mornings.
The upside is the December solstice sunset. An extra hour of evening light means after-work daylight for beach walks, outdoor dinners, and evening jogging. For tourism and hospitality, Miami’s main economic drivers, that is a clear benefit.
Who gains and who loses
If your morning routine starts before 08:00, dropping kids at school, commuting to a job site, walking a dog, permanent DST hits you harder than someone who works from home and starts at 10:00. The dark winter mornings are the real cost.
If you run a restaurant, a tour boat, or a hotel, you gain an extra hour of evening activity during the winter tourism season. That is real money.
The default take, “permanent DST is great, no more clock changes”, ignores the morning problem. The person who should think twice before cheering for the Sunshine Protection Act is the early riser with a fixed schedule. For them, the law means more mornings in the dark.