Permanent daylight saving time: How would your state be impacted?

(NEXSTAR) – There remains a chance that the U.S. could observe year-round daylight saving time, as a bill to do just that awaits passage in the Senate .

Under the Sunshine Protection Act, states that do not exempt themselves would observe daylight saving time year-round. Since Hawaii and most of Arizona already observe year-round standard time , they would remain exempt.

For the rest of us, that would mean our clocks would not fall back in November. Instead, our clocks would remain exactly where they are now.

As small as that adjustment may sound, it would make winter days feel much different than they do now.

Spring and summer would feel exactly as they do now, since we already observe daylight saving time from early March through early November.

For much of the U.S., the sun wouldn’t rise until after 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. for at least part of the winter. The trade-off, though, would be later winter sunsets .

So how would you be impacted? Ultimately, it depends on where you live.

Let’s say you live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Between early November, when our clocks fall back to standard time, and early March, when daylight saving time starts again, you would see more than 70 sunsets in the 4 o’clock hour. The earliest would happen at 4:35 p.m.

Now let’s say we observe daylight saving time year-round, and your clocks in Cedar Rapids never falls back. All of those sunsets before 5 p.m. would now happen after 5 p.m. The earliest the sun would ever set is 5:35 p.m.

It’s primarily those in the northern portion of the U.S. that would benefit the most from sunsets shifting back. Some of the earliest winter sunsets happen around 4:15 p.m. in Green Bay, Wisconsin; Burlington, Vermont; and Providence, Rhode Island. Under permanent daylight saving time, those sunsets would happen after 5 p.m.

The interactive table below shows when winter sunsets would happen under permanent daylight saving time across more than 60 U.S. cities, as well as the earliest possible winter sunset times.

That extra hour of sunlight in the afternoon hours may be a nice reprieve for communities that spend so many evening commutes shrouded in darkness.

However, that “extra” hour of sunlight has to come from somewhere.

The shift to permanent daylight saving time would mean that winter sunrises would largely happen after 8 a.m. – and in some areas, after 9 a.m.

While Cedar Rapids wouldn’t see any sunrises after 9 a.m. in winter, more than 90 would occur later than 8 a.m. To the north, in Bismarck, North Dakota, roughly 75 sunrises from November and into March would happen after 9 a.m. The latest of which would happen at almost 9:30 a.m.

The below table shows when winter sunrises would happen across more than 60 U.S. cities under permanent daylight saving time, as well as the time at which the latest possible sunrise would occur:

It’s the later sunrises in winter that didn’t sit well with some when the U.S. last observed permanent daylight saving time . After parents began sending their children off to school in the dark, sometimes armed with flashlights, permanent daylight saving time quickly lost favor among the public. The U.S. soon returned to seasonal time changes , with four months of standard time annually.

While permanent daylight saving time has received support from lawmakers in several states , the golf industry , and the Oval Office, not everyone agrees with it.

Many health experts agree that if we’re going to stop changing the clocks, it should be on permanent standard time . Year-round daylight saving time could impact how thousands practice their religion and may have “considerable implications” on your future flights , at least temporarily.

It’s difficult to say when, if ever, the Senate will pick up the Sunshine Protection Act. Efforts by the Senate to fast-track its version were thwarted .

Without any quick action, our clocks will “fall back” on the earliest possible date this year, Nov. 1.