Michigan lawmaker seeks to place daylight saving time observance on the ballot
Michigan residents have voted twice on whether to observe daylight saving time – once to revoke it in 1968, then once to reinstate it in 1972.
State Sen. Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, thinks it is time to bring the matter back to the ballot.
Lowell introduced Senate Bill 126 on Thursday, calling for the elimination of DST in Michigan, should voters approve that step in the November 2026 election. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations.
Basically: if the bill is passed by the Michigan Legislature, the matter will go on the ballot.
Senate Bill 126 appears to have significant support already with 11 co-sponsors, for a total of 12 among the 38 Michigan senators who have signed onto the bill. The co-sponsors include Republican Aric Nesbitt, who has announced his candidacy for the Michigan governor's race.
"Is switching to daylight saving time worth the headaches? Does it have any valid reason for continuing in this day and age?" Albert said in his announcement. "I personally would say 'no,' but obviously opinions differ. We should let the people of Michigan decide once and for all."
Daylight saving time doesn't extend the actual day, it just shifts the clocks so that sunrise and sunset happen one hour later. Therefore: daylight lasts longer in the evening.
Since 2005, the U.S. has called for the time to change on the second Sunday of March and revert on the first Sunday in November. Michigan currently observes the federal schedule for daylight saving time. But that was not always the case, and the state has had a contentious history with timekeeping and time zones.
Numerous attempts have also been made at the federal and regional levels to end the twice-yearly time changes or to fiddle with the effective dates in place of them.
One of the efforts that got huge attention was the 2022 Sunshine Protection Act, which the U.S. Senate passed but it stalled in the House. The result would have ended the time changes, and observed daylight saving time year-round.
Michigan's history with daylight saving time
The implementation of DST itself goes back to the World War I era, when it was promoted as an electricity-saving step during wartime.
Albert's announcement makes reference to the upheaval that resulted in Michigan after the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 invoked daylight saving time — unless a state specifically opted out.
Michigan voters rejected DST effective in 1968. Voters then permitted its return in a 1972 election.
Both votes were quite close.
The federal "year-round daylight saving time" experiment of 1974 invoked the time change from Jan. 6, 1974 to Oct. 27, 1974.
Then in 1975, Michigan refused to change its clocks until several weeks after the federal time change. For all practical purposes, that decision placed most of Michigan one hour behind other Eastern time zone states from late February until late April in 1975.
Eastern time vs. Central time
Michigan's clock discussions are further complicated by the fact that the state straddles the Eastern-Central time zone lines.
After World War I, the entire state of Michigan was placed in the Central time zone. Detroit fought that, with the city staking its claim on Eastern time starting in 1915. All of the Lower Peninsula was granted permission in the 1930s to shift into the Eastern time zone.
These days: most of the state is in the Eastern time zone; a few counties in the Upper Peninsula are in the Central time zone.
