Remember to set clocks back one hour this Sunday

This is the weekend to gain an extra hour of sleep as Daylight Saving Time ends and clocks are set back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday. Fire safety officials encourage citizens to use the annual clock shift as a reminder to replace batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

According to the website standardtime.com, Daylight Saving Time began in the United States during World War I, primarily to save fuel by reducing the need to use artificial lighting. Although some states and communities observed Daylight Saving Time between the wars, it was not observed nationally again until World War II.

The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided the basic framework for alternating between Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time, now observed in the United States.

The system of beginning Daylight Saving Time at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in April and ending it at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday in October was not standardized until 1986. The rules changed again in 2007 when Congress passed a law extending Daylight Saving Time from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.

The earliest known reference to the idea of Daylight Saving Time comes from a purely whimsical 1784 essay by Benjamin Franklin, called “Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle.” It was first seriously advocated by William Willet, a British builder, in his pamphlet “Waste of Daylight” in 1907.

Over the years, supporters have advanced new reasons in support of Daylight Saving Time even though they were not the original reasons behind enacting it.

The Florida Legislature, Washington State Legislature and California Legislature have all passed bills to enact permanent Daylight Saving Time, but the bills require Congressional approval in order to take effect. Unless Congress changes federal law, states can not implement permanent Daylight Saving Time—states can only opt-out of Daylight Saving Time, not Standard Time.