Daylight Savings Time this weekend.

 It seems that the discussion around having daylight savings time has been around for a minute or two. ;)

Benjamin Franklin, American politician and scientist, wrote an essay
entitled "An Economic Project" in 1784 that pointed out money would be saved on the cost of candles if people (Parisians, specifically) would wake up at sunrise and go to bed at sunset.

It didn't catch on.

In 1895, George Vernon Hudson- a entomologist from New Zealand - wrote a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society suggesting a two hour shift in time. This shift would go forward in October and backward in March. This was criticized and rejected rather quickly.

Daylight Savings Time was determined to happen though. In 1916 during the First World War it was implemented. Germany decided it would be good to make use of the natural light and save fuel for the war effort. (Germany was one of the most powerful countries at the time.) Many other European countries followed suit as well.

President Woodrow Wilson signed and approved the idea of DST March 8, 1918 after Robert Garland introduced it following a trip to the UK. It didn't last long though. The time change was repealed at the end of the war. Although there was a return for the Second World War.

After the war, not everybody removed daylight savings time and that caused quite a bit of confusion for those that had interaction in different areas. Picture maybe Nashville/Davidson County decided to have DST and Dickson County didn't. That would cause some serious issues for people.

In 1966 the United States Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966. The US Department of Transportation oversees the time zones and the implementation of daylight saving time. Since then the Act has been amended so that the start date is in March by advancing an hour at 2 am on designated Sunday and then ending in November at 2 am by reversing an hour. There are some states that opted out of DST.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Sunshine Protection Act to make DST permanent. Tennessee is one of the states that has joined Florida in wanting to make DST permanent. The bill is in the beginning stages in the 117th Congress. (more info here)

Below is information from the Florida version of the Sunshine Protection Act.