Colorado already said yes to permanent daylight saving time. Congress is finally catching up
Jul 14, 2026, 4:25 PM
If you’ve spent the last four years wondering why Colorado passed a law to keep daylight saving time forever and then… nothing happened, your patience may finally be paying off. The U.S. House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday (July 14) by a bipartisan 308-117 vote, clearing the biggest hurdle the bill has ever faced and moving the country one step closer to never touching a clock.
Here’s why this matters for Colorado specifically: Back in 2022, after years of failed attempts, the Colorado General Assembly passed a bipartisan bill that would make daylight saving time permanent in the state — but only once Congress repealed or amended the Uniform Time Act of 1966, or if four other Mountain Time Zone states enacted similar legislation. In other words, Colorado already said yes. It’s been sitting in the car with its seatbelt on, waiting for the federal government to start the engine. The Sunshine Protection Act is that key.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where the path gets trickier. A version of the Sunshine Protection Act actually passed the Senate by unanimous consent back in 2022 — the one time the Senate agreed on anything that year — but the House never voted on it. This time the House moved first, and reporting indicates at least one senator, Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton, may block the bill. The legislation has President Donald Trump’s support; he urged Congress in April to “push hard for more daylight at the end of a day.”
So what would permanent daylight saving time actually look like along the Front Range? Summers wouldn’t change at all. But in winter, Denverites would see later sunrises — we’re talking 8:15 a.m. or later in late December — in exchange for sunsets that stick around past 5:30 p.m. instead of plunging into darkness at 4:35. Colorado is one of 19 states that have already passed laws supporting year-round daylight saving time, and the new bill allows any state to opt out and stay on standard time if it prefers. Arizona and Hawaii already skip the clock change entirely, which means they’ve been quietly winning this debate for decades.
