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The Uniform Time Act of 1966, , was a
Law of the United States The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...
to "promote the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones" prescribed by the Standard Time Act of 1918. Its intended effect was to simplify the official pattern of where and when
daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...
(DST) is applied within the U.S. Prior to this law, each
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
had its own scheme for when DST would begin and end, and in some cases, which parts of the state should use it.


History

The law, as originally written, required states that observe DST to begin it at 2 a.m. local time on the last Sunday in April, and to end it at 2 a.m. local time on the last Sunday in October and explicitly preempted all state laws related to daylight saving time per the
weights and measures A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other qua ...
power given to Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. In 1972, the act was amended to allow states with more than one timezone to exempt only one timezone from DST, in addition to exempting the whole state.An Act to amend the Uniform Time Act to allow an option in the adoption of advanced time in certain cases. The law was later amended again in 1986 to move the uniform start date for DST to the first Sunday in April (effective 1987). The latest amendment, part of the
Energy Policy Act of 2005 The Energy Policy Act of 2005 () is a federal law signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The act, described by proponents as an attempt to combat growing energy problems ...
, extends DST by four or five weeks by moving the uniform start date for DST to the second Sunday in March and the end date to the first Sunday in November (effective 2007). The Department of Energy was required to report to Congress the impact of the DST extension by December 1, 2007 (nine months after the statute took effect). The report, released in October 2008, reported a nationwide electricity savings of 0.03% for the year of 2007.


Specifications

The law does not require that all states observe DST. Individual states may exempt themselves from DST and observe standard time year-round by passing a state law, provided: * if the state lies entirely within a
time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
, that the exemption apply statewide, or * if the state is divided by a time zone boundary, that the exemption apply statewide or to the entire part of the state on one side of the boundary.


Non-observers

The state of
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
has never observed daylight saving, even during World War II when "War Time" was observed by other states as an energy saving measure. The territories of the
Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...
,
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
,
American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
,
Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...
, and
U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...
also do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Observance of daylight saving varied by county in
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
, which is divided by the Eastern/Central time zone boundary, until April 2, 2006, when the entire state once again observed DST, a first since Congress repealed the Standard Time Act of 1918. Arizona has not observed daylight saving since the year following the enactment of the Uniform Time Act of 1966. Native American nations within Arizona may choose. The
Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...
has chosen to use daylight saving throughout its territory, which includes parts of
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
and
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
where daylight saving is observed. The
Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...
Nation, with territory surrounded entirely by the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation, has chosen not to observe daylight saving.


See also

* 1918 Standard Time Act * Time in Indiana *
Time in Arizona Time in Arizona, as in all U.S. states, is regulated by the United States Department of Transportation as well as by state and tribal law. All of Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone. Since 1968, most of the state—except the Navajo Nation—d ...
* Sunshine Protection Act


References

{{Lyndon B. Johnson 1966 in American law 89th United States Congress United States federal energy legislation Daylight saving time in the United States