wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2119 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that the biannual shift between standard time and daylight saving time imposes avoidable and well-documented burdens on the health, safety, and economic well-being of Washington residents. A growing body of medical and public health research demonstrates that the abrupt changes to the sleep-wake cycle disrupt circadian rhythms and are associated with increased rates of cardiac events, workplace injuries, traffic collisions, and reduced productivity in the days immediately following the time change. These impacts fall disproportionately on children, older adults, individuals with sleep disorders, and workers in safety-sensitive occupations.
The legislature further finds that maintaining permanent standard time provides a more stable alignment with human biological clocks, reduces seasonal sleep debt, and supports long-term health outcomes. Leading sleep medicine organizations have concluded that permanent standard time is the option most consistent with optimal public health.
In addition to health and safety benefits, the legislature recognizes that eliminating the biannual clock adjustments will reduce administrative and operational costs across both public and private sectors. Businesses, school districts, transit agencies, health care systems, and state and local governments incur recurring expenses related to schedule adjustments, system reconfiguration, software updates, and public communication each time the clock is changed. Permanent standard time eliminates these inefficiencies and aligns Washington with the growing number of jurisdictions reconsidering the necessity of daylight saving time.
Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to discontinue the practice of observing daylight saving time and to place the state of Washington on permanent standard time in order to promote public health, enhance safety, improve government and business efficiency, and reduce unnecessary costs.
The standard time for the state of Washington is the zone designated by the United States department of transportation for the state of Washington under the uniform time act, 15 U.S.C. Secs. 261 and 263, as determined by reference to coordinated universal time.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary by the United States government relating to adoption of daylight saving time by all of the states, the state of Washington elects to reject such time and elects to continue in force the terms of subsection (1) of this section, relating to standard time in Washington.
No county, city, or other political subdivision of this state shall adopt any provision for the observance of daylight saving time, or any time other than standard unless another time is established on a national basis: PROVIDED, That this section shall not apply to orders made by federal authorities in a local area entirely under federal control.
This section shall not be construed to affect the standard time established by United States law governing the movements of common carriers engaged in interstate commerce or the time for performance of an act by an officer or department of the United States, as established by a statute, lawful order, rule, or regulation of the United States or an agency thereof.
No code city shall adopt any provision for the observance of daylight saving time other than as authorized by RCW 1.20.050 .
The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed: