Every year we set our clocks forward one hour in the Spring and then set the clocks backwards one hour in the Fall. It seemed pointless to do this in Florida but it was the law so we went along with it. Finally, the Florida legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill to make DST permanent so that we don't have to change the time anymore and allowing it to be daylight later into the evening. See Senate bill S. 2537. Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law this past March, but it will not take effect until Congress changes federal law allowing Florida to become exempt from the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
Daylight savings time was created in 1918 during WWI. The idea was to TEMPORARILY change the time to extended daylight and allow the military to use the coal-powered energy instead of it being used by the public. For now, only Arizona, Hawaii and several US territories do not observe DST.
Marco Rubio (R), the senate lead sponsor, introduced the bill but there is currently no cosponsor. Bill Nelson (D) seems to oppose making DST permanent in Florida but he would support it if all 50 states would participate. He recently stated that he feels that if it is not done nationally “it would cause all kinds of havoc and confusion for businesses and the public”. I would respond by saying that we are intelligent enough to handle it and it’s not like changing the time twice a year is not actually more confusing.
I hope it passes because it would provide an economic increase due to businesses remaining open for longer and because it is estimated that crime would reduce by approximately 7% as most crime occurs at night. Furthermore, Miami PSPI is a process service and private investigations company so the main reason I support permanent DST is because we can serve process in the light of day later into the evening all year around. Most people tend to feel more comfortable answering the door in daylight then they do when it is dark. More process will get served with fewer attempts and this means increased revenue while saving time and money.
Please contact us if you need a process server in Miami. While we would rather serve people in the daylight, we will serve them any time and anywhere (except on Sunday per State law).