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Four of Oregon’s six members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday against a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent year-round. The Sunshine Protection Act passed the House 308–117. It now goes to the Senate, where a previous version of the bill unanimously passed in 2022 before expiring in the House.
Only Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), the delegation’s sole Republican, voted yes. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) did not cast a vote. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Janelle Bynum, Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas all voted no.
“I know people don’t like to change their clocks twice a year, but most medical experts recommend Standard rather than Daylight Saving Time,” Bonamici tells WW on why she voted against the bill. “Standard time is more aligned with our natural sleep cycles, and it’s safer for commuters and kids at bus stops to have more light in the morning.”
The Sunshine Protection Act was backed by President Donald Trump, and Oregon Democrats aren’t eager to hand him any wins. Still, the party-line vote was puzzling given that Oregon’s state lawmakers—mostly Democrats—have passed the same legislation.
The Oregon Legislature passed a bill in 2019 that would have made Daylight Saving Time permanent, but only if Washington and California did so as well. That same year, then Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a similar bill. And the year before, California voters approved Proposition 7, which gave their state Legislature the power to set a year-round standard time by either making daylight saving permanent or abolishing it. But the Legislature never did so.
In 2023, Oregon’s Senate passed a bill that would tie Oregon’s permanent time to Washington’s and California’s if the other two states could agree. Whether the other bills specified sticking with Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time, Oregon’s 2023 bill didn’t take a side—it just ended changing clocks. But that bill died in the House.
Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden co-sponsored the version of the Sunshine Protection Act that unanimously passed in 2022, as did Washington Sen. Patty Murray and California Sen. Alex Padilla and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein—all Democrats.
