That piece of legislation was introduced this year by Democratic Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara and Republican Sen. Joseph Griffo—you can read the text of the bill here.

Santabarbara told Gothamist that like clockwork, he hears complaints from constituents every time the time-change is upon us: "During this time of the year, you hear all the complaints about changing the clock back and forth twice a year," he said. "I think there's a lot of communities that just don't want to do this anymore, and don't really understand why we have to do it."

Primarily, the DST system was designed to reduce electricity use in buildings—but many prominent studies from the 1970s to today have proven we get little if any benefits from the practice. According to some experts, we waste much more energy than we save. Gas consumption, for example, always goes up, something the gas industry has known since the 1930s. "Every time the government studies [DST], it turns out that we are really saving nothing when all is said and done," Michael Downing wrote in his seminal book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.

There are other negative effects: traffic accidents tend to spike the first Monday after daylight saving time. Chronobiologists have argued that people are essentially "jet-lagged" for a few days after. Some studies have shown that ending DST would help reduce the risk of seasonal depression. A recent Mayo Clinic study found that DST could lead to "an increase in medical errors" because of sleep-deprived healthcare workers. And even cows apparently get depressed and give less milk in the days after DST!

Santabarbara adds that local businesses have complained about the time shift as well: "They see the productivity does go down because of this time change—and when you look at the energy savings, according to the reports I've read, it's very little compared to the health effects, compared to productivity, compared to people's wellbeing, people's sleep habits, people's general mood. There's a lot of impact that this has on our community."

So Santabarbara's bill allows New York to form an agreement with other Eastern states—including Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—that instead of "falling back" in November, we enjoy DST year-round.

It's not that simple of course: Congress first has to repeal the 1960s bill which established the DST system before states are allowed to make their own decision. But he hopes legislation like this pushes Congress to act and inspires other states to draft their own laws.

"I think by getting more states on board and passing bills like this, I think we send a message that there's more states that want to do this, and maybe this will encourage other states that maybe haven't considered this yet to enact legislation like this as well," he said.

This isn't the only piece of legislation in play: earlier this year, a group of bipartisan U.S. legislators led by Sen. Marco Rubio proposed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would similarly make DST our permanent time. Rubio's office recently told WESH that the bill has been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the ball is in their court now to review it.