No one can deny San Diegans love sunlight. With the darker winter months of the year behind us, San Diegans can thank March’s daylight saving time (and the earth’s position as it revolves around the sun) for a whole other hour of those sweet, sweet solar rays. <\/p>\n
When does daylight saving time start?<\/p>\n
Daylight saving time has Americans in every state except for Hawaii and Arizona moving their clocks an hour forward on\u00a0Sunday, March 8 at 2 a.m.\u00a0At that point, time will automatically move ahead to 3 a.m.\u00a0Time travel!<\/p>\n
Sunrise and sunset time changes in San Diego<\/p>\n
The hours of daylight have been steadily growing since the Winter Solstice (the first day of winter). For those early risers, the sun will rise on a new era of daylight saving time at 7:08 a.m. on March 8 in San Diego. <\/p>\n
San Diego hasn’t seen a sunset after 5 p.m. in a long time. That’s about to all change. The sun will set at 6:51 p.m. on March 8, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/a>. <\/p>\n And that’s just the beginning. The next day, on March 9, the sun will set even later \u2014 at 6:52 p.m. Sunset times will steadily get later and later until the summer solstice on June 21, which will see an 8 p.m. sunset time for San Diego.<\/p>\n Following the summer solstice, daylight hours will slowly dwindle until the winter solstice, at which point daylight hours begin lengthening again (for northern hemisphere dwellers). <\/p>\n For more exact information on San Diego’s sunrise and sunset times for the rest of the year, click here<\/a>. <\/p>\n The daylight saving time debate<\/p>\n The\u00a0debate over daylight saving time persists<\/a>\u00a0as experts question its relevance. Supporters argue it reduces electricity use, boosts retail and outdoor activities, and improves traffic safety.<\/p>\n Critics, however, say DST disrupts sleep, increasing health risks like heart attacks and strokes, while modern energy use has minimized its savings. Businesses and farmers also find the time change disruptive.<\/p>\n Is President Donald Trump getting rid of daylight saving time?<\/p>\n President Donald Trump, president-elect at the time, wrote in\u00a0a December 2024 post on TruthSocial<\/a>\u00a0that his Republican party was planning to eliminate daylight saving time. <\/p>\n But Trump has since softened those comments<\/a> when asked about the switch to daylight saving time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a 50-50 issue. When something\u2019s a 50-50 issue, it\u2019s hard to get excited about it,\u201d he said. \u201cI assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don\u2019t want to take their kids to school in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n @nbcnews<\/a> <\/p>\n With the clocks about to spring forward, President #Trump<\/a> appears to have softened on the idea of ending daylightsavingtime, calling it a \u201c50-50 issue.\u201d Changing the practice would require an act of Congress.<\/p>\n \u266c original sound – nbcnews<\/a> <\/p>\n Is there legislation to get rid of daylight saving time across the U.S.?<\/p>\n America’s time is currently split between standard time and DST. Legislators have tried nearly every year since 2018 to make DST permanent through such bills as the Sunshine Protection Act. Each time, the bill has not advanced to become law.<\/p>\n The latest iteration of this bill, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025<\/a>, was introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. It has not advanced since then. <\/p>\n So there’s the standard time, and daylight saving time \u2014 but what about a little bit of both? That’s exactly what Florida Rep. Greg Steube has proposed. <\/p>\n Just last month, Rep. Steube proposed the Daylight Act of 2026 in Congress. If enacted, House of Representatives (H.R.) 7378<\/a> bill would permanently shift our clocks forward 30 minutes from standard time \u2014 and there time would stay. No more switching between standard and daylight saving time twice every year. <\/p>\n However, states also have the ability to legislate in order to govern their own time.<\/p>\n Didn’t Californians vote to remove daylight saving time in 2020? <\/p>\n Yes, Californians did. So why are we still changing our clocks then? <\/p>\n San Diego denizens might remember voting on California’s Proposition 7 in 2018. <\/p>\n That proposition passed by nearly 60% of the vote<\/a>, giving the California Legislature the ability to change DST, according to Ballotpedia.<\/p>\n Proposition 7 didn’t actually change DST, it just gave the California State Legislature the ability to actually change it, IF they earn a two-thirds majority vote on it (from both the California State Assembly and California State Senate) and then IF the federal government already allows it.<\/p>\n However \u2014 states are allowed to make standard time year-round.<\/p>\n That’s what California Republican Sen. Roger Niello intends to do. After attempting to pass a similar bill previously, Niello introduced another bill in February 2026 that could cement the state in standard time. Senate Bill-1197<\/a>, if passed, would eliminate the need for a time change across California only. As of March 4, the bill has been introduced and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications.<\/p>\n Niello previously introduced the similar SB-51, which became stalled in committee<\/a> and expired with California’s legislative session end in September last year.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBenjamin Franklin gets credit for a lot of things, but creating Daylight Saving Time shouldn\u2019t be one of them.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Would removing the time change do anything?<\/p>\n Maybe. Maybe not! In the mid-70s, the U.S. had year-round daylight saving time, but that quickly became unpopular and was reversed<\/a>. <\/p>\n Regardless of time change laws, the earth is still tilted on its axis at an average of 23.5 degrees, according to NOAA<\/a>. That tilt is responsible for seasonal changes and thus the amount of sunlight you get where you live. Your location on the Earth also affects how much sunlight you’ll get in a year. Generally, the closer you are to the equator, the more sunlight you’ll get throughout the year, NOAA says<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you REALLY don’t like DST, it might be worth considering moving close to the equator, where seasonal changes have little effect on the length of daylight, according to NOAA<\/a>. <\/p>\n Can my state opt out of daylight saving time?<\/p>\n States are actually allowed to opt out of DST and remain in standard time year-round (as Hawaii and Arizona have done). But, they are not allowed to establish DST year-round, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNBC 7\u2019s Ashley Matthews speaks to a Sharp doctor on methods to practice in order to help your body adjust to daylight saving time.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Where did daylight saving time come from?<\/p>\n Close to the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Standard Time Act into law, putting DST into effect for the first time in the U.S. in March of 1918, according to the Library of Congress<\/a>. The move was intended to save energy costs during WWI.<\/p>\n About one year later, the law was repealed due to the war’s end.<\/p>\n In World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted a year-round DST in February 1942 he called “war time.” That DST lasted until Sept. 30, 1945.<\/p>\n When the Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966, standard time was mandated across the country within established time zones. However, states could still opt out.<\/p>\n When the 1973 oil embargo hit, America needed to conserve energy. Thus, President Richard Nixon signed year-round DST (the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act<\/a>) into law, hoping to ease the national gas crisis. <\/p>\n Congress enacted a trial period of all-year DST from January 1974 to April 1975.<\/p>\n The time change was unpopular. Eight Florida children died in traffic accidents that were linked to the time change, according to NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Permanent daylight saving time was reversed in October 1974<\/a> by President Gerald Ford. <\/p>\n Needless to say, the debate over DST remains contentious.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t