Daylight saving time starts this weekend, letting people “spring forward” one hour to shift more daylight into the evening hours.

DST will start on Sunday, March 9 with the changeover officially taking place at 2 a.m. We will remain on DST until Nov. 2 when we “fall back” to standard time and set the clocks back one hour.

DST, a wartime idea first observed in 1918 to conserve energy, is recognized in every U.S. state except for Hawaii and most of Arizona. It starts each year on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November, a schedule first instituted in 2007 after the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The idea has grown increasingly controversial in recent years.

In 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Sunshine Protection Act to make DST the year-round standard. The measure failed in the House but was reintroduced earlier this year by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida. The “Lock the Clock” bill would end the twice-yearly time change and make DST year-round.

States are allowed to remain on standard time year round – something done in Hawaii and parts of Arizona – but cannot choose to stay in DST unless there is Congressional action allowing them to do so. According to the National Council of State Legislatures, states legislatures have considered more than 750 bills and resolutions in recent years to establish permanent DST as soon as federal law allows.

Eighteen states have passed bills indicating they would move to permanent DST if Congress approved the change. They are:

Oklahoma – 2024

Colorado – 2022

Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana- 2021

Idaho (Pacific Time Zone only), Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming – 2020

Delaware, Maine, Oregon (Pacific Time Zone only), Tennessee and Washington – 2019

Florida -2018

Resolutions were also passed by a single chamber in Kentucky in 2022 and Ohio in 2020. California voters approved a measure to do away with the time change in 2018 but no legislative action has occurred since then, according to the NCSL.

Two states—Arizona and Hawaii—and the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands observe permanent standard time.