Illinois will soon spring forward. When does daylight saving time start again?
Ready for longer evenings and commutes with daylight in Illinois? You won’t have to wait much longer.
Daylight saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 8, when Illinois residents “spring forward” and move their clocks ahead one hour.
Spring officially begins Friday, March 20, and metro-east residents have recently seen days grow a bit longer, though the sun is still setting early. Belleville residents will see sunsets as late as 5:52 p.m. by the end of February, with sunsets at 7 p.m. and later beginning with daylight saving time in March.
But will Illinois lawmakers put an end to the practice of changing clocks twice a year? Here’s what to know.
Daylight saving legislation in Illinois, across US
Bills relating to daylight saving time often circulate the Illinois legislature. One example is House Bill 1400, which would establish permanent daylight saving time in the state, if allowed by Congress.
Some previous efforts against clock-changing have taken a different approach, however, such as House Bill 3321, which aimed to exempt the state from required daylight saving time.
H.B. 1400 was filed in January 2025 and its last action was a re-referral to the Rules Committee in March, while H.B. 3321 was introduced in 2021 and died in 2023 when the 102nd General Assembly adjourned.
These recent bills are far from the only effort to end clock-changing in Illinois, and the U.S. Senate has introduced similar legislation for the nation. So far, Hawaii and Arizona are the only states in the country that don’t observe daylight saving time, and the Navajo Nation portion of Arizona does practice daylight saving.
The history of daylight saving
Daylight saving time was made a legal requirement by the Uniform Time Act of 1966, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports.
State governments cannot independently change time zones or the length of daylight saving time, but they can exempt themselves from the practice.
“States do not have the authority to choose to be on permanent Daylight Saving Time,” the U.S. Department of Transportation website reads.
This year’s daylight saving time will end Sunday, Nov. 1.
Do you have a question about the weather or the environment in the metro-east or Illinois for the News-Democrat? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.
