New Mexico senator renews push to stop yearly time change

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – One of New Mexico’s senators is renewing the call to keep the clock where it is. The debate on if we should change the clock seems to happen every year.  

On a national level, there have been efforts to get rid of the dreaded ritual. The most recent one was in March when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act. 

“One has to ask themselves, after a while, why do we keep doing it? Why are we doing this?” said Rubio in 2022. 

The Sunshine Protection Act would keep the U.S. permanently on Daylight Saving Time which is where the clock lands when we move ahead one hour in the spring.

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich backs the bill. In a statement to KOB 4 he says in part:

“The Sunshine Protection Act is common sense legislation. It will give us more sunshine and less of the hassle and headaches of time changes. I’ll keep working to pass this bipartisan bill into law.”

Heinrich made his support for the bill clear again this week by retweeting Rubio’s support for the bill – saying:

“Anyone else annoyed with the time change? Same. Let’s pass the Sunshine Protection Act.”

The bill currently has 15 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate, and 32 in the House. It was reintroduced in March and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 

There have been efforts at the state level, too.

“It seems like, just as you’re getting into that pattern, here we go again, and we change again,” said Taos Sen. Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales.  

Two state lawmakers have tried, but failed to convince other state lawmakers to freeze the clock.

Sen. Cliff Pirtle’s bill would keep New Mexico on Daylight Saving Time while Gonzales‘ bill would have kept us on standard time, which is where we are now. 

KOB 4 reached out to both senator Gonzales and Pirtle about any future attempts to reintroduce these bills, but we have not heard back.