California still observes daylight saving time and still changes its clocks twice a year because federal law gives states only two options: follow the national DST schedule or drop out entirely and stay on permanent standard time. Voters passed Proposition 7 in 2018 hoping for a third option, year-round daylight saving, but that choice requires an act of Congress that has not happened. The state legislature has not adopted the one alternative federal law does allow, so the March and November switches continue.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 260a – Advancement of Time or Changeover Dates
Proposition 7 Did Not End the Clock Changes
This is the point most people get wrong about the 2018 vote. Proposition 7 passed with about 60% support, but it did not make daylight saving time permanent and it did not stop the twice-yearly switch. It was an enabling measure.
The proposition did two specific things. It repealed a 1949 ballot initiative that had locked California’s DST rules in place, and it gave the legislature authority, by a two-thirds vote, to change the state’s time rules going forward, provided any change complied with federal law.2Legislative Analyst’s Office. California Proposition 7 – Daylight Saving Time Nothing about the clocks changed automatically. The vote cleared a state-level obstacle and handed the next decision to Sacramento. Sacramento has not made it.
Federal Law Only Allows Two Choices
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 is the controlling federal statute, and its terms are narrow. A state can observe daylight saving time on the federal schedule, springing forward in March and falling back in November. Or a state can exempt itself and remain on “the standard time otherwise applicable” all year.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 260a – Advancement of Time or Changeover Dates Those are the two options. There is no provision for a state to adopt permanent daylight saving time on its own.
That matters because permanent DST, with longer evening light year-round, is what most Californians who voted for Proposition 7 had in mind. It is also what the proposition’s own text pointed toward. But a state cannot get there under current federal law. Hawaii opted out in 1967 and Arizona in 1968, and both have stayed on permanent standard time ever since. Neither moved to permanent DST because neither could.
Why California’s Legislature Hasn’t Acted
Lawmakers have introduced bills in both directions since 2018, and none have made it across the finish line.
Assembly Bill 7, filed in December 2018 right after Proposition 7 passed, would have put California on year-round daylight saving time once federal law allowed it. The bill never reached a final vote.3California Legislative Information. AB-7 Daylight Saving Time (2019-2020) Because its effect depended on Congress acting first, it would not have stopped the clock changes even if it had been signed.
Senator Roger Niello has gone the other direction, pursuing permanent standard time, which California can adopt without federal permission. His SB 1413 in the 2023–2024 session failed to advance.4California State Senate. SB 1413 – Permanent Standard Time He reintroduced the same approach as SB 1197 in February 2026, which would repeal daylight saving time statewide and establish year-round standard time, with a fallback switching California to permanent DST if Congress ever authorizes it.5California Legislative Information. SB-1197 Permanent Standard Time
The political problem is straightforward. The only option California can deliver on its own, permanent standard time, means losing the late summer evenings most residents enjoy. Sunset in Los Angeles would arrive closer to 7 p.m. in July rather than 8 p.m. Polling consistently shows people want the opposite: more evening daylight, not less. Asking legislators to vote away the brightest hours of summer evenings in exchange for ending the time change has not generated enough support to pass a bill. Sleep scientists, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, argue that permanent standard time better matches human biology and that permanent DST would push winter sunrises in parts of California past 8 a.m., creating safety concerns for kids heading to school in the dark. That medical argument has not shifted the public preference.
Congress Is the Only Path to Permanent DST
For California to actually get the year-round daylight saving time voters signaled they wanted in 2018, Congress has to amend the Uniform Time Act. The closest that has come to happening was in March 2022, when the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act by unanimous consent.6Congress.gov. S.623 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2021 The bill would have made DST permanent nationwide. It passed without a roll-call vote and caught many senators off guard. The House never took it up, and the session ended.
Versions have been reintroduced every Congress since. The current 119th Congress has both a House and a Senate version pending, and neither had advanced beyond introduction as of mid-2026.7Congress.gov. H.R.139 – Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 The pattern has held: strong polling for ending the clock changes, bipartisan sponsors, and no movement. Part of the holdup is the same split that is stalling things in Sacramento. Medical and sleep-research organizations lobby for permanent standard time, the general public prefers permanent DST, and Congress has not settled the question.
What All of This Means for You
Until one of two things changes, California will keep switching clocks every March and November. Either Congress amends the Uniform Time Act to allow states to adopt permanent daylight saving time, which would let California act on the preference Proposition 7 reflected, or the state legislature passes a bill like SB 1197 and puts California on permanent standard time without waiting for Washington. Neither looks imminent. The 2018 vote cleared the state’s path but left the destination blocked by federal law, and the destination that is open is not the one most residents say they want. That is the stalemate, and it is why the clocks still change.