When is summer time? Halloween helped change the date.

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After a long night of trick-or-treating and perhaps staying up late to enjoy the loot or attend a Halloween party, there’s a built-in snooze: The end of daylight saving time means we get an extra hour to sleep this weekend.

It is no coincidence that the time change comes after the holidays. Until about two decades ago, daylight savings time ended on the last Sunday in October instead of the first Sunday in November, as it does now. That would make sunset an hour earlier, meaning less daylight for children to walk door-to-door.

Daylight saving time aims to save energy by moving the clocks for part of the year to better adapt daylight to the times of day when people are working or in school. When (and if) the clocks change has been a debate for years, as lawmakers and advocates argued over the schedule.

Currently, the goal for many is to eliminate a disruptive clock change twice a year, but lawmakers in the early 2000s came up with another solution: Move the dates the clocks change by a few weeks.

The plan, which came in a bill passed by Congress in 2005 and passed in 2007, was primarily a way to save energy (extending daylight savings time, in theory, meant less time needed for lights in the evenings). But it saw support from lawmakers who raised concerns about children’s safety on Halloween and from lobbyists who said the change would be good for sales in their industries.

Not only did it end daylight saving time after Halloween, but it also made the start of daylight saving time two weeks earlier than it was before.

Somewhat ironically, the US now says that only about four months of the year should be standard time – from early November to early March.

A Brief History of Daylight Saving Time

Daylight saving time was first introduced in the United States in 1918 when the Standard Time Act was passed to save on fuel costs, but it was quickly reversed nationally after World War I ended, and only reappeared when World War II began.

From February 1942 to September 1945, the United States took over what became known as the “Wartime,” when Congress voted to make Daylight Saving Time year-round during the war in an effort to save fuel. When it ended, states were able to establish their own standard time until 1966, when Congress finally passed the Uniform Time Act, standardizing national time and establishing what we now know as daylight saving time.

In the 70s, daylight saving time was again temporarily established long-term during the oil embargo crisis.

How Halloween Affected Daylight Saving Time

After 1966, daylight saving time was implemented from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. Twenty years later in 1986 it was changed to start on the first Sunday in April instead.

For years, lawmakers tried to extend daylight saving time even further in an effort to save energy. In 2005, it finally became a reality, and daylight savings time as we know it today became the law. Now it lasts from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, especially after Halloween.

Aside from energy savings, lawmakers said at the time that extending daylight saving time to include Halloween would make the night safer for children. Halloween remains the deadliest night of the year for child pedestrians, studies show, but advocates said having an extra hour of daylight to trick-or-treat would make a difference.

On the flip side are some advocates for child safety, including National Parent Teacher Associationopposed the change because they worried it would mean more morning commute time in the dark, a danger to children walking to school or waiting for a bus.

More than once before the 2005 Energy Bill extended daylight saving time, lawmakers considered a Halloween Safety Act that attempted to do the same thing, but failed to make it into law.

“Between energy conservation, fewer traffic accidents and keeping kids safe on Halloween, the benefits of extending daylight saving time are many — not to mention the extra hour of sunshine in the evening will help chase away the winter blues,” former Michigan Rep. Fred. Upton said in a 2009 press release after the summer time change came into effect.

According to some accounts, the candy industry also had a hand in extending summer time.

Michael Downing, author of “Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time,” shared NPR in 2007, that candy lobbyists “wanted to have trick-or-treat covered by daylight savings time, figuring that if kids have an extra hour of daylight, they’ll collect more candy.”

Late. Ed Markey, who was representing Massachusetts at the time, said New York Times that energy and security were the driving forces behind the change, not the candy industry. And representatives of the candy industry denied the connection.

Meanwhile, retailers said it would increase business because people would shop more in the evening before nightfall.

Some now want permanent summer time

Several states have passed measures that would make daylight saving time year-round. The only problem is that federal law prohibits it.

States are allowed to have permanent standard time, which Hawaii, the non-Navajo parts of Arizona, and some territories do. In order to have permanent daylight saving time, Congress must pass a law allowing it.

A bill that passed the Senate in 2022 but has since stalled would make year-round daylight saving time the law of the land. The Sunshine Protection Act was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Rubio and other proponents of permanent daylight saving time argue that the benefits include more time for outdoor activities or evening work and that it would save energy.

Many experts agree that time changes contribute to health and even safety issues, but some experts say so year-round standard time would be better.

“It’s time to lock the clock and stop enduring the ridiculous and antiquated practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” Rubio said.