Governor John Bel Edwards is pushing for a law that would allow Louisiana residents to enjoy longer days permanently. Governor Edwards has signed a bill into law giving the state legal rights to adopt daylight saving time as a year-round standard time. The bill is currently pending a decision from Congress, who would have to amend the current federal law.

We actually have good ol’ Benjamin Franklin to blame for the whole spring forward/fall backward mess. Time change was his idea originally, though it didn’t happen until a century after he proposed the concept. Franklin reasoned extending daylight by an hour would help us make better use of our days, while turning our clocks back in the fall allows for an extra hour of shut-eye. He coined the following phrase on the matter, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

The nation started observing a synchronized time change when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966. The Department of Transportation reports some parts of Arizona, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands don't recognize it.

Governor Edwards isn’t by himself in wanting his state to have year-round daylight saving time. States such as Arkansas, Montana, Delaware, Oregon, Maine, and others have all presented legislation to Congress wanting to adopt similar measures.

So far, all requests are pending. According to KPLC 7, if the Governor’s bill gets approved, the new standard time will take effect at 2:00am on March 14, 2021.

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