Texans hoping to stop springing forward and falling back for good will have to keep waiting. State lawmakers passed House Bill 1393 in 2025, a measure that would let Texas' Central and Mountain time zones observe daylight saving time year-round under the name “Texas Time” — but the law cannot take effect until Congress makes a matching change at the federal level, and that hasn't happened yet.
A Trigger Law Waiting on Washington
House Bill 1393 is what's known as a trigger law, meaning it's already on the books in Texas but stays dormant until federal law allows year-round daylight saving time nationwide, according to MySA. Texas isn't alone in this holding pattern. Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, and Florida have all taken similar trigger-law action, setting up their own states to flip to permanent daylight saving time the moment Congress gives the green light, per D Magazine.
The federal piece of the puzzle is the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025, known in Congress as H.R. 139, which would make daylight saving time permanent across the country. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill with bipartisan support and a 308-117 vote, but it now awaits approval from the U.S. Senate, where it has not been taken up. The Senate is not scheduled to be in session for most of October, according to the Senate calendar.
Trump Has Pushed for the Change Before
This isn't the first time a federal push for permanent daylight saving time has stalled. The U.S. Senate passed its own version of the Sunshine Protection Act back in 2022, but that measure never made it through the House, the same outlet reports. President Donald Trump has also expressed support for H.R. 139, calling the current system of changing clocks twice a year “foolish, inconvenient and, in some cases, very costly,” and arguing that “people are sick and tired of having to change their clocks twice a year.” Even so, a similar push during his second term was blocked in the House the previous year, according to the same account.
What Actually Changes This Fall
Until federal lawmakers act, Texans will keep following the same clock-change routine as everyone else. Daylight saving time was originally intended to save energy, and it currently requires clocks to move back one hour in fall and forward one hour in spring. This year, daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1, 2026, when clocks will be set back one hour at 2 a.m., shifting from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m. local standard time — giving most people an extra 60 minutes of sleep.
Clocks will spring forward again on the second Sunday in March, moving from 2 a.m. local standard time to 3 a.m. local daylight saving time. U.S. representatives have continued to debate the broader value of keeping daylight saving time at all, a debate that predates this year's push and shows no sign of resolving soon.
The clock question arrives as the seasons shift regardless of what Congress decides. Astronomical fall begins Tuesday, September 22, 2026, with the autumnal equinox occurring at 8:04 p.m. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. For now, Texas' trigger law remains exactly that — a law waiting for its trigger.
