H.R. 139 · 119th Congress
Sunshine Protection Act of 2025
Rep. Buchanan, Vern [R-FL-16] (R-FL) · Introduced · 34 cosponsors
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
· from Congress.gov, as of August 8, 2026
Committees
What this stage means
The bill has passed the full House of Representatives.
Why this matters
A majority vote by the full chamber is required for the bill to keep moving toward becoming law.
What can happen next
The bill goes to the Senate, which can pass it, amend it, or never take it up.
Study this bill
AP GovThe constitutional question
Constitutionally trivial — the commerce power has governed time zones for a century. The exam-relevant content is the coalition: the House passed permanent daylight saving 308–117 in July 2026 with both parties split internally, because the cleavage is regional (northern states face 9 a.m. winter sunrises) and occupational (farmers, parents, golfers, sleep scientists), not ideological. Students who assume every congressional fight maps onto liberal-versus-conservative get this wrong on FRQs; this bill is the corrective.
The strongest case for
Americans overwhelmingly hate the clock change itself, and the disruption is measurable: the days after spring-forward show documented spikes in heart attacks, workplace accidents, and car crashes tied to lost sleep. Permanent daylight saving moves light to when people actually use it — evening — extending after-school activity, retail, and recreation hours, and cutting the early-winter darkness that arrives mid-afternoon. Nineteen-plus state legislatures have passed conditional laws waiting on exactly this federal trigger, since states may opt out of daylight time but cannot adopt it permanently without Congress. A 308–117 House vote reflects genuine, durable public consensus that the biannual switch has outlived whatever purpose it had.
The strongest case against
The sleep-science community is nearly unanimous on the other side: the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends permanent standard time, because morning light regulates circadian biology, and permanent daylight time means January sunrises after 8:30 or 9 a.m. across the northern tier — schoolchildren at bus stops in full darkness. America ran this exact experiment in 1974: permanent DST was enacted amid the energy crisis, approval collapsed within months as dark winter mornings arrived, and Congress repealed it before the year was out. The bill's popularity rests on people imagining summer evenings, not February mornings; the 1974 reversal is what happens when the imagined policy meets the lived one.
Foundational documents in play
- U.S. Constitution
Congress has set the nation's clocks under the commerce power since the Standard Time Act of 1918 — the authority is old and undisputed.
- Federalist No. 10
Madison assumed conflict flows from factions — this bill's 308–117 coalition, splitting by latitude and chronotype instead of party, is the counterexample worth studying.
Organizations supporting
Organizations opposing
This has happened before
In March 2022 the Senate passed the identical Sunshine Protection Act by unanimous consent — and several senators later admitted they hadn't realized the request was being made; it then died without a House vote. This Congress inverted the sequence: a real 308–117 House roll call, with the Senate now the graveyard-in-waiting. Behind both stands 1974, when permanent DST actually took effect and was repealed within the year — the rare natural experiment where the policy's own history is the strongest argument in the debate.
Practice FRQ
Concept Application. "A bill making daylight saving time permanent passed the House 308–117, with majorities of both parties split internally and opposition concentrated among members from northern districts and the medical community." (A) Describe one reason congressional voting coalitions sometimes do not follow party lines. (B) Explain how constituency geography influenced members' votes on this bill. (C) Explain why interest groups on both sides of this bill do not fit the liberal–conservative spectrum.
Sources: www.congress.gov · aasm.org
Action history
Every recorded action from Congress.gov — 12 total.
Senate
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
House
Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 1423. (consideration: CR H4445-4452)
House
Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 139, H.R. 8595, H.R. 9237 and H.R. 1181. The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 139, H.R. 9237, and H.R. 1181 under a closed rule, and H.R. 8595 under a structured rule with one hour of debate and one motion to reconsider on each bill.
House
DEBATE - The House proceeded with one hour of debate on H.R. 139.
House
The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule.
House
Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 308 - 117 (Roll no. 238).
House
On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 308 - 117 (Roll no. 238). (consideration: CR H4445-4446)
House
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
House
Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 1423 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 139, H.R. 8595, H.R. 9237 and H.R. 1181. The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 139, H.R. 9237, and H.R. 1181 under a closed rule, and H.R. 8595 under a structured rule with one hour of debate and one motion to reconsider on each bill.
House
Introduced in House
House
Introduced in House
House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.