LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As we set our clocks back an hour over the weekend, you may be wondering where Arkansas stands on keeping or eliminating Daylight Saving Time.
It’s always nice to get that extra hour of sleep, but now sunset is shortly after 5 o’clock. While many have mixed feelings about the time change, there have been multiple attempts by Arkansas legislators to keep Daylight Saving Time year-round.
Most recently in December of 2022, State Representative Johnny Rye from Trumann introduced a bill to Arkansas that would adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time. However, on January 9, 2023, he withdrew the bill and recommended its effects be studied by a committee on governmental affairs.
Rye tried to pass a similar bill in 2020. That bill passed the House 71-24 and made it to the Senate Committee of State Agencies and Government Affairs, but it failed to pass during the legislative session.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 mandates the country use Daylight Saving Time, but allows states to opt out and exempt themselves from the practice.
Two states don't observe daylight saving time at all, refusing to roll their clocks forward and backward every year— Hawaii and most of Arizona do not recognize Daylight Saving Time.