Harger: Vancouver keeps its evening sun Sunday. Washington falls back. Pick one already

Starting Sunday, you can lose an hour at the Peace Arch.

British Columbia is done changing its clocks. When the rest of us fall back at 2 a.m. on Nov. 1, B.C. will stay right where it is, on permanent daylight saving time. Drive north through Blaine next week, and Vancouver will be an hour ahead of Seattle all winter.

Washington wanted to do the same thing. Lawmakers in Olympia passed permanent daylight saving time back in 2019. It needs Congress to sign off, and Congress has been sitting on that for seven years now. The House finally passed the Sunshine Protection Act 308-117 in July. The Senate hasn’t touched it.

So Sunday morning, we fall back. Again.

Vancouver becomes Washington’s daylight saving time test lab

I’m glad B.C. is going first.

Skeptics of permanent daylight saving time have a pretty good history lesson on their side. America tried it once. During the energy crisis, President Richard Nixon signed a law in December 1973 putting the whole country on daylight saving time year-round. Support started around 79%. By February 1974, after a few weeks of kids walking to school in the dark, it had dropped to 42%. Congress voted to end the experiment that October, less than a year in.

Sleep experts have a case too. Plenty of them say if we’re going to lock the clock, permanent standard time is easier on the body, with more morning light when we wake up.

That was 1974, though, and this is 2026. Now we get to watch a real-world experiment play out about two hours up I-5. By February, we’ll know whether Vancouver loves those long winter evenings or misses its morning sunshine. If B.C. is miserable, we’ll hear about it. If B.C. is thrilled, we’ll hear about that too.

Washington could pick permanent standard time without waiting on Congress

I don’t love the spring version of this ritual. Nobody I know enjoys getting up an hour early in March, staggering into work, and feeling jet-lagged without the vacation.

Pick one.

I’m flexible. I could be a standard time guy all year. I could be a daylight saving time guy all year. Heck, I could split the difference. Newfoundland runs half an hour off its neighbors. So do Iran and India. Maybe we fall back 30 minutes one last time, call it Pacific Compromise Time, and never touch the clock again. I don’t care which one we choose. I care that we stop changing.

The good news is that one of those options is already sitting on the table. Federal law already lets states stay on standard time all year. Hawaii does it. Most of Arizona does it. Washington wouldn’t need the Senate’s permission to join them.

So Olympia has a choice. Keep waiting on a Congress that has stalled this idea for years, or watch what happens in Vancouver this winter and make a decision.

Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here. 

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