State Sen. Betty Little speaks at a retirement party for her Jan 23 at the Hotel Saranac in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

As state Sen. Betty Little starts her last legislative session before retirement, she wants to bring an end to the twice-a-year clock change that all New Yorkers experience annually.

She has proposed legislation to make daylight savings time, where clocks are set from March to November, the permanent state of time in New York.

This would mean more hours of late-day sunlight year-round.

To take effect, Little’s bill requires 19 other states to adopt legislation agreeing to year-round DST.

According to a press release from Little, the majority of U.S. states are considering changing or, at least, studying either eliminating daylight savings time, or making it permanent. Little’s bill is one of three proposed in Albany this session.

“Each year, we go through the steps of turning our clocks ahead and then turning them back with many people wondering if it really is necessary,” said Little. “It disrupts our sleep cycles which many people find annoying. Some say it increases risk of stroke or heart attack. Sticking with daily savings time year-round would afford us more daylight at the end of the day, and that’s something quite a few constituents have suggested.”

Little said the federal government’s 1966 Uniform Time Act allows states to opt into DST, which starts on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November.

Hawaii and Arizona already do not observe DST. States can exempt themselves from DST on their own, but states wanting to permanently observe DST need congressional approval.