Illinois will not be moving to permanent Daylight Saving Time in the near future. State lawmakers have introduced bills to end the twice-a-year clock change, but none have passed both chambers, and even a successful state law would have no legal effect unless Congress first amends federal law. Until that happens, Illinois clocks will keep springing forward on the second Sunday in March and falling back on the first Sunday in November.1timeanddate. Time Change 2026 in the United States
In 2026 that meant clocks moved ahead on March 8 and will move back on November 1.2Time and Date. Clock Changes in Time, Illinois, USA From November through March the state runs on Central Standard Time; the rest of the year it runs on Central Daylight Time.
Why Illinois Can’t Switch on Its Own
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 is the reason. Under 15 U.S.C. § 260a, the federal government sets the Daylight Saving Time period and gives each state exactly two choices: observe DST along with the rest of the country, or opt out and stay on standard time all year.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 260a – Advancement of Time or Adoption of Daylight Saving Time for Period Covered by Uniform Time Act Arizona (outside the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii took the opt-out route.
What the statute does not permit is the opposite move: a state cannot lock itself into permanent Daylight Saving Time. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees DST compliance, has put it directly: “States do not have the authority to choose to be on permanent Daylight Saving Time.”4US Department of Transportation. Uniform Time For Illinois to make the change, Congress has to act first.
Illinois Bills That Have Tried to End the Clock Change
State legislators have taken several runs at this. The furthest any proposal has gotten was Senate Bill 533 in November 2019, sponsored by Senator Andy Manar, which would have made Daylight Saving Time Illinois’ year-round standard. The Senate passed it 44–2.5LegiScan. Illinois Senate Bill 533 (2019-2020) In the House, it was sent to the Rules Committee and never got a floor vote. It died when the session ended in January 2021.
Two similar bills are alive in the current 104th General Assembly. House Bill 1400, from Representative Brad Halbrook, would make DST the permanent statewide standard.6Illinois General Assembly. HB1400 – 104th General Assembly House Bill 0039, introduced by Representative Bob Morgan in January 2025, uses nearly identical language and specifies that clocks would advance on the second Sunday of March 2026 and stay there.7Illinois General Assembly. Full Text of HB0039 Neither has moved out of committee. HB 1400 was re-referred to Rules in March 2026.
Legislators know a state-level bill is largely symbolic unless Congress clears the way, which is part of why these proposals struggle to get floor time.
The Federal Bill Everyone’s Waiting On
The federal vehicle is the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time the permanent nationwide standard and end the fall-back transition altogether.
In March 2022, the Senate surprised observers by passing the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 (S.623) by unanimous consent.8Congress.gov. S.623 – 117th Congress (2021-2022) – Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 The House never took it up, and the bill expired at the end of the 117th Congress. A follow-up version in the 118th Congress went nowhere.9Congress.gov. S.582 – 118th Congress (2023-2024) – Sunshine Protection Act of 2023
Senator Rick Scott reintroduced the measure in January 2025 as the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 (S.29). As of early 2026, it sits with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and has not advanced.10Congress.gov. S.29 – 119th Congress (2025-2026) – Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 Illinois has no path to permanent DST until a bill like this one becomes law.
What Permanent DST Would Mean for Illinois
Supporters tend to focus on the obvious benefit: later sunsets in winter. Under permanent DST, Chicago’s earliest winter sunset would move from around 4:20 p.m. to roughly 5:20 p.m., keeping usable daylight into the late afternoon in December.
The cost shows up in the morning. Chicago sunrise wouldn’t happen until after 8:00 a.m. for roughly two months, from early December through early February. Schoolchildren and early commuters would be out in full darkness. That is the exact scenario that killed a national permanent-DST experiment in 1974, when Congress reversed course after one winter of public backlash over dark mornings. Permanent standard time, the other option federal law already allows, would preserve earlier sunrises but push winter sunsets even earlier than they are now. That is part of why the debate hasn’t settled.
Where Things Stand
Illinois residents should plan to keep changing their clocks twice a year. The state legislature has shown steady interest in ending the practice, but with the Uniform Time Act unchanged and the Sunshine Protection Act stalled in committee, no state-level bill in Illinois can take effect.4US Department of Transportation. Uniform Time