No, New York is not getting rid of daylight saving time. The state still springs forward in March and falls back in November, and under current federal law it cannot switch to permanent daylight saving time on its own even if the legislature votes to do so. Bills have been introduced in Albany pointing in both directions, but none has become law, and the real bottleneck sits in Washington.
What New York Does Now
New York is in the Eastern Time Zone and follows the national schedule. Clocks jump forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and fall back one hour at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.1U.S. Naval Observatory. Daylight Saving Time That schedule has been the default since Congress extended the daylight saving period in 2007.2National Institute of Standards and Technology. Daylight Saving Time Rules
The Two Bills in Albany
Permanent Daylight Saving Time
Senate Bill S1929, introduced during the 2023–2024 session, would have made daylight saving time the year-round standard in New York State and New York City. It carried two triggers that both had to be met before it could take effect. Federal law would first have to permit year-round observation of Eastern Daylight Time. Then Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania would each need to pass identical legislation.3New York State Senate. New York State Senate Bill 2023-S1929 The neighbor-state condition reflects the practical mess of commuters crossing borders into states still changing their clocks every winter.
S1929 did not pass. The idea carried forward as successor bills S3380 and A10571 in the 2025–2026 session.
A Study of Opting Out
Senate Bill S297, introduced in the 2025–2026 session, moves in the opposite direction. It would create a task force to study the effects of New York opting out of daylight saving time, meaning the state would stay on standard time all year. The task force would evaluate health risks, economic disruptions, and impacts on traffic and crime, then report to the governor and legislature by April 1, 2026.4New York State Senate. New York State Senate Bill 2025-S297 As of early January 2026, S297 was in the Senate Finance Committee and had not advanced.
Why Federal Law Blocks the More Popular Option
The Uniform Time Act of 1966, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 260a, requires every state that observes daylight saving time to follow the same national start and end dates. The statute gives states one escape hatch: a state may exempt itself from daylight saving time entirely and stay on standard time year-round.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 260a – Advancement of Time or Changeover Dates Arizona (outside the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii have done that.6US Department of Transportation. Daylight Saving Time
What states cannot do under current law is adopt permanent daylight saving time. The statute allows an exemption from the spring-forward change; it does not authorize a state to spring forward and never fall back. That is the exact option S1929 and its successors envision, and only Congress can unlock it. The U.S. Department of Transportation administers time zone boundaries and daylight saving compliance.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 260 – Congressional Declaration of Policy
Where the Federal Bill Stands
The federal legislation that would change this is the Sunshine Protection Act. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent in March 2022, but the House never voted on it, and the bill expired at the end of that Congress.8Congress.gov. S.623 – 117th Congress (2021-2022) Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 It was reintroduced in the 118th Congress without success.
In the current 119th Congress, Senator Rick Scott of Florida introduced S.29 on January 7, 2025, and it was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which held a committee meeting in late April 2025.9Congress.gov. S.29 – 119th Congress (2025-2026) Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 The House companion is H.R.139.10Congress.gov. H.R.139 – 119th Congress (2025-2026) Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 Neither has reached a floor vote as of early 2026. At least 18 states have already passed legislation or resolutions in favor of permanent daylight saving time, all contingent on federal approval that has not come.
What Each Option Would Feel Like in New York
The trade-off is why this fight has stalled. Under permanent daylight saving time, summer evenings stretch past 8:30 p.m., but on January 1 the sun would not rise in New York City until about 8:20 a.m., nearly an hour later than the current 7:20 a.m. winter sunrise. School buses would run in full darkness, and morning commutes would begin before daylight. Areas farther north and west inside the Eastern Time Zone would see it worse.
The winter-morning problem is widely considered the reason the House did not act on the 2022 Sunshine Protection Act. The country tried permanent daylight saving time during the 1974 energy crisis, and public support collapsed within months once parents saw children heading to school in the dark. Congress reversed course before the second winter.
Permanent standard time, the option S297’s task force would study, avoids that dark-morning problem but gives up summer evening light. Sunset on the summer solstice in New York City would fall around 7:30 p.m. instead of the current 8:30 p.m.
The Bottom Line
New York is not ending daylight saving time in the near term. The legislature wants to stop changing clocks, but its preferred option, permanent daylight saving time, requires Congress to act first, and Congress has failed to do so in three consecutive sessions despite bipartisan support. The one option New York could pursue without federal permission, permanent standard time, sits in a task force bill still in committee. Until one of those paths breaks through, clocks in New York will keep moving in March and November.