Florida lawmakers in the Sunshine State want snowbirds, tourists, and residents to get more “sunshine” on their vacations.

The bill called the “Sunshine Protection Act,” would ask the United States Congress to give the state permission to make Daylight Saving Time permanent year-round. The bill passed the Florida Legislature with little opposition.

Hawaii and Southern Arizona already got Congress to allow them to stay on Standard Time.  Hey!  These are tourist rivals of us Floridians!

The Florida change has its opposition particularly since Panhandle Florida would no longer be in a different time zone and would be two hours off nearby Alabama six months of the year. I guess it would tell people in Pensacola to stay in state to shop.   It might also solve the issue of Miami newsmen declaring Gore the winner in Florida before the polls closed in the Panhandle where Bush got 60% of the vote.

To be truthful it was a Saint Petersburg tourist promoter/newspaper guy in the 1880’s that coined the idea that Florida was “the Sunshine State.”  It was the start of a winter honeymoon of Northerners coming to Florida by train.

In reality some six states, including Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico have more days of sunshine than Florida.  BUT Florida has the highest average temperature of any state, including Hawaii.

Colorado (45.1 F), Nevada (49.9 F) and New Mexico (53.4 F) are not exactly the best places to wear a bathing suit in January.  Perhaps Florida should be renamed “the warm weather state” for that is why we get more winter visitors than any other state.

Look at how far south Florida is vs California and how far West

Any change in time in Florida will have a big impact on scheduling sports events in Florida if you want them to reach Eastern Standard Time audiences.  But if you take a look at Florida on a map – you will notice Florida is actually a most western state.  Are we Floridians really in the Southeastern USA?

Miami (80-11-38 degrees W) is further west than Pittsburgh, PA (79-59-46 degrees W) and Pensacola (87-13-0 degrees W) is almost as far west as Chicago (87-37-47 degrees W).

Thanks to millions of Key West visitors who photograph the marker, most people know Florida is the southernmost spot in the Continental USA.  Only Hawaii is further South.

But did you know that Florida’s most northern spot (Fernandina Beach at 30-66-96 degrees N) is further south than San Diego (34-09-28 degrees N).  Heck, we in Florida think of California is a Northern state.

The Pacific water at Santa Monica Pier averages 59 degrees F with a high of 66 degrees in July.  Miami Beach is 71 degrees in January and 86 degrees in July. Only San Diego can hit that 71 degrees in mid-August.

Those Beach Party Bingo kids should have been wearing wet suits when they made that movie in November.

The only trouble with this sun and temperature stuff is after many years residing  in Florida your blood system seems to thin and you start complaining when the temperature drops into the 60’s.   Florida kids wonder if school will be cancelled everytime a cold front hits the state.  That’s Florida for you.