On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 at 10:15, Brooks Harris via tz <[email protected]> wrote:
> It says "A competing House measure, introduced in early July, would lock > the clock on standard time. ". Which leads to: > H.R.9638 - Sunshine for Our Kids Act of 2026 > https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9638/text > > How might this work? How does the legal process relate to H.R. 139? Can > both bills pass, or has H.R. 139 preempted H.R.9638? > In short, and eliding over some "US civics class" nuance— Whichever bill passes both chambers in identical form and then receives the President's signature first becomes law first. H.R. 139, having passed the House on 14 July, has the head start in this regard. Given that the bills kind of "do the opposite" of each other, it is unlikely that a second related bill would progress far enough to cause conflicts without first being amended or re-drafted entirely. This is the kind of thing that various staffers and legal experts on Capitol Hill are supposed to help catch long before it happens. > (It's not clear to me that H.R.9638 would actually "lock the clock on > standard time", because it seems to give states the option to continue DST. > Is that how you read it?) > That is how I read it as well. By contrast to H.R. 139, which does not allow states optionality unless previously opted-out, H.R. 9638 would make standard time the default nationwide, while inverting and actually expanding states' optionality, allowing them to choose to deviate either by continuing seasonal DST as-is or adopting DST year-round. I note that H.R. 9638 also contains an explicit delay provision to "the first Sunday of November that first occurs after the date of the enactment". -- Tim Parenti
