Whatever happened to staying on daylight saving time in Florida?

Most Americans are "falling back" this weekend with the end of daylight saving time.

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Yes, you'll get an extra hour of sleep Sunday morning. Yes, the sun will come up and set a little earlier – even in Florida, where lawmakers voted earlier this year to get rid of the whole "spring forward, fall back" thing.

In March, Florida had a brief moment of bipartisan agreement when the state Legislature voted to keep the state on daylight saving time year-round.

This would have meant Florida wouldn't join the rest of the country each November in turning the clocks back one hour. During the winter months, much of Florida would technically be one hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone (can you imagine how hard it would be to decode what time your favorite shows are on?).

The move, which enjoyed broad support in both chambers, was quickly signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.

And that's as far as the story goes.

The stroke of the governor's pen isn't enough for Florida to freeze time. The United States Congress, not the Florida Legislature, gets the final say on when, or if, Florida gets to quit changing its clocks twice a year.

And while the measure isn't one to cause deep political divides, Congress just has bigger fish to fry.

"It is not the top issue on the agenda in Washington, but it matters to a lot of people," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told WFTV's Christopher Heath in April. "The thing to do is to do it for the entire country. This whole changing back and forth, is not beneficial to anybody per se."

The idea of daylight saving time has only been a part of the country's lexicon for about 50 years. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966. It was designed to save the country energy and, therefore, money. Congress tweaked it again in 2007, when daylight saving time was extended by three weeks in the spring and one week in the fall.

Some argue whether daylight saving time has actually offered any real savings.

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Florida isn't the only state questioning the worth of daylight saving time. Californians will vote Nov. 6 on a similar proposition to keep daylight saving time year-round.

So for now, Florida will have to keep changing the clocks twice a year like everybody else.

One more reminder to impress your friends: It's called daylight saving time – not daylight savings (plural) time. You're welcome.

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