Hawaii’s stance is that of a place where time slows, perhaps in a good and forward-thinking way.
As most of the country just left Daylight Saving Time (DST) and fell back into standard time today, Hawaii remains resolute in rejecting this now controversial time-altering practice. The fact is that Hawaii never embraced Daylight Saving Time, even when it was firmly established in the U.S. under the Uniform Time Act more than 50 years ago.
The state of Hawaii decided to opt out in 1967, a choice it never wavered from. While the rest of the U.S. and some of the world adjust their clocks twice yearly, Hawaii has steadfastly refused to join this temporal dance.
Hawaii’s unique position on DST can be traced back to its geographical location. Since it is situated far closer to the equator than the mainland states at a latitude similar to Mexico City, Hawaii experiences minimal variation in sunrise and sunset times throughout the year. The very concept of Daylight Saving Time, originally designed to optimize natural light usage, holds little practical advantage in a place where daylight remains relatively consistent.
Hawaii’s decision to reject Daylight Saving Time is not entirely isolated, as there are other U.S. locations and territories and many countries worldwide that also abstain from the practice mainly due to their similar latitude and daylight patterns. These include Arizona (except in some areas), which opted out after its brief experiment with DST in the 1960s, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A century of Daylight Saving Time: tracing its roots to World War I.
It was introduced to save energy and promote retail shopping on well-lit evenings. Over the years, its rationale has evolved, with claims of health benefits, increased recreational opportunities, and productivity gains.
The history of DST in the U.S. is marked by changes in policy, leading to the adoption of the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which stipulated a six-month standard time and a six-month DST period. States could participate or not, leading to varying observance across the nation. Arizona’s choice to opt-out was a notable example.
Congress’s efforts to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
The proposal passed the Senate unanimously and appears to have stalled out despite strong bipartisan support for ending the practice. It also isn’t clear if the president would sign it even if passed. As Senator Marco Rubio aptly said, “This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid.”
Notably, there was a period in the 1970s when the U.S. experimented with year-round Daylight Saving Time due to an energy crisis, although it was eventually curtailed.
As a result of Hawaii’s refusal to embrace DST, the state maintains within a consistent time zone, which can create unique challenges for those dealing with scheduling or connecting with the mainland. Hawaii remains two hours earlier than the West Coast until next spring, emphasizing its unique ways and temporal independence from the rest of the nation.
As the world debates the merits of this time-altering practice, Hawaii stands as a steadfast reminder of a simpler, timeless approach to keeping track of time.
here is my taka as a frequent traveller twice a yr to ml. I brought kfc and potatoes n gravy, sumner sausage cheese and crackers, starburst, mini twix and two sodas. always bring your own food, then no worries. Plus don’t have to pay hella out of pocket in flight and at airport gates.
I salute you Hawaii for this. I just dread the time change in the mid west. I am a sunshine person and loved my evening walks and golf. i Wish Washington would quit procrastinating this move. They act like it takes alot of work and prep and too many other world issues right now. But we have time to send billions of dollars overseas to fight their wars!
In a place like Hawaii where you only have a half hour difference between the length of sunlight from summer to winter there is really no reason to be moving the clock around. What Hawaii has done is to just make life a little easier for all of us. Whereas, in a place like Seattle it gets a drastic change of sunlight from summer to winter and they badly need that change of time. IMO.
Thanks for the history lesson BOH. I agree with Marco Rubio. It’s stupid. IMHO it does nothing to gain productivity. Each time the clock springs forward or falls back it takes me a full week to reset my body clock and return to my full potential. It’s kinda like my return trip home to Florida after a restful Hawaii trip (but that’s worth it).
funny, we were talking about this on friday.
to go back and forth changing the clocks is nowadays ridiculous.
it seems that there is plenty of support nationwide to go back to daylight savings in march “24” and leave it there forever.
why it has stalled out in government is a mystery, it should be a simple non economic issue, sign the bill and that’s it, no $ involved.
a lot of doctors agree that especially springing forward is not the healthiest idea.
govt. bureaucractic (spelling ??) red tape.
hawaii and arizona are doing just fine with yearlong daylight savings.
take care
Hawaii and Arizona stay on standard time. I would love it if this was our last time change!
Thanks for an informative article. Having grown up in Hawaii, I always wondered why the continental states wanted to deal with Spring Forward/Fall Back. Living in CA now, it’s a hassle setting my clocks back an hour … or in most cases having to advance the darn thing 23 hours.
I had to leave Hawaii and I’d rather the 4 hour difference vs 5…. it makes it easier when calling my family in Hawaii.
Beat of Hawaii information is useful for me. The daylight savings time nonsense to me is just that. Nonsense and I feel it should be done away with too. That is all for now. Thanks for the nice information that I get from you.