TODAY's Craig Melvin leads co-hosts in rule break on live show: 'The time has come'

One of the most divisive rules in the United States is garnering some (pretty unanimous) takes from the hosts of NBC's TODAY.

On the Wednesday, July 15 iteration of the morning news hour, while discussing the previous day's biggest headlines, hosts Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin touched upon The Sunshine Protection Act.

For those not in the know, The Sunshine Protection Act will allow all 50 states to make daylight saving time permanent, thereby removing the need for biannually changing our clocks. States have the option to opt out as well.

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The rule previously received Donald Trump's support and was finally voted on by the House, who elected 308-117 to pass the bill. It now goes to the Senate, and if the NBC anchors have anything to say about it, it'll become law quicker than you can say "daylight saving."

Craig even pointed out that the on-air anchors usually try to avoid talking about political news from a personal standpoint so as to maintain their impartiality as journalists, before admitting: "We don't usually wade into politics around these parts but senators…pass the bill. Pass the Sunshine Act!"

Savannah concurred, noting that she doesn't actually deal with the time change when in her native Arizona, but is mixed up all over again when she's back in New York City. "I'm from Arizona, and we don't observe daylight saving. I have found the whole thing so confusing."

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"Many people have for a long time," Craig agreed, with Savannah then joking: "The time has come! What do you say Al?"

They turned to Al Roker on standby for the weather forecast, who quipped to their delight: "I say absolutely! And given that most of those senators are either my age or older, take a nap, and vote on it, okay? Pass it, okay? And then you can go have a warm glass of milk."

What is daylight saving time? And why do we still change our clocks?

The history of daylight saving time stretches back centuries, millennia even, when ancient civilizations would adjust clocks to receive more "sunlight time," especially when farming and agriculture were staples of society.

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In the United States specifically, daylight saving was put into motion with the Standard Time Act of 1918, although at that time, it was only a seven-month procedure to accommodate for "war time" during World War I. That practice returned during World War II as well.

Richard Nixon signed permanent daylight saving time into law in January 1974, but complaints soon began cropping of farmers tilling their land and children going to school in darkness during winter. President Gerald Ford then repealed the concept of year-round daylight saving that October.

As it stands, more than a third of the world's countries implement some kind of daylight saving system, mostly in the Americas and Europe. Within the USA, it is implemented throughout all states except Hawai'i, Arizona and the United States territories.

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Per current federal law, daylight saving time officially begins on the second Sunday in March (when clocks skip forward by an hour), and ends on the first Sunday of November (when clocks go back by an hour). The Sunshine Protection Act will nullify the need to change clocks in November.