Blake Stephens of Tahlequah, a senator in Oklahoma, wants to keep Daylight Saving Time permanent. After his interim study in October, he proposed a bill to lock the state into the biannual tradition.

According to Stephens, Daylight Saving Time would benefit the farmers and ranchers. Aside from that, it will also give people an increased daylight hour in the afternoon.

“We can control the outcomes of how we’re using our daylight; we cannot manufacture more daylight; only God can do that, but as intelligent individuals and people, we can manage the clock,” Stephens added. 

Stephens also said that he is working on building a coalition with other states around Oklahoma, and he also wants to help those places even if they haven’t touched Oklahoma. 

Some states have locked into standard time. But if states want to lock in year-round Daylight Saving Time, they need federal approval. For the time being, US states can benefit from the Sunshine Protection Act.

Daylight Saving Time has both positive and negative effects. “We might feel groggy, we might feel tired, some of those are just natural things that happen,” Nic Dubriwny said.

Dubriwny comes from the OU-Tulsa School of Social Work. “But the other thing that happens too is that we might be exposed to less daylight,” she added. Dubriwny said that 60 to 70% of Americans want to get rid of the time change based on research.