Must Read Right To Repair Stories from 2023
2023 was a watershed year for the fight for a right to repair. In our final Fight to Repair Weekly of the year, we’re rounding up the biggest repair stories of the past year.
In our annual round-up last year, we called 2022 a “breakthrough year” for the right to repair - which it was. But what does that make 2023, which saw a number of "end zone dances” in which right to repair legislation became law and - as of December 28th - the first electronics right to repair law take effect?
Well, after the breakthrough comes the building, and I think seeing 2023 as a “building” year, in which there we consolidated our gains from 2022 with more victories in more states, is a good way to frame it. 2023 was a year in which a right to repair - though still a patchwork - started to take shape.
What did that look like as 2023 played out? Here are some of the biggest stories from the past year:
A Victory* In New York
2022 ended in historic fashion with New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s signing of that state’s electronics right to repair law. But it was a winsome victory, after Hochul - using powers unique to New York’s Executive and acting at the behest of industry lobbyists - kneecapped a robust consumer right to repair law passed by the legislature. (A report in Grist by Maddie Stone lays bear the machinations of Big Tech lobbyists in re-writing the New York’s first-ever electronics right to repair…and the willingness of a compliant New York Governor to play along.)
But - in the end- a victory is a victory, and December 28th saw the new law take effect, with New York consumers enjoying substantial new rights when it comes to repair and maintenance of their electronic devices, as we discuss here.
Minnesota and California join New York in passing Right to Repair
As it turned out, the loop holes in the New York’s law were soon overshadowed by activity in two other states: Minnesota and California, which followed the Empire State by passing their own, more muscular versions of electronics right to repair bills. Minnesota came first, in May, when Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the Digital Fair Repair Act into law following months of deliberation.
The new rules were part of an omnibus appropriations bill (SF 2774). The Digital Fair Repair Act language was added to the larger legislative packages in late April in both the Minnesota House and Senate. In the House, SF 2744 was passed by a vote of 70-58 with Right to Repair language included. Walz’s signature came after reconciled appropriations bill passed Minnesota’s legislature with strong, bipartisan support.
For digital electronic equipment and parts for the equipment sold or used in Minnesota, the law reads, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) must make available to any independent repair provider or to the owner of digital electronic equipment “documentation, parts, and tools, inclusive of any updates to information or embedded software, for diagnostic, maintenance, or repair purposes” and make it available on “fair and reasonable terms.” Parts, tools, and documentation must be made available within 60 days after the first sale of the digital electronic equipment in Minnesota. Alas, the Minnesota law - like others - contains carve outs for certain types of devices including automobiles and medical devices.
The winning streak continued in October, when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 244, The California Right to Repair Act, into law, giving citizens of the world’d fifth largest economy a broad and muscular right to repair.
Even more surprising, passage of the Right to Repair Act came with the blessing of Cupertino-based Apple Computer, a huge force in the state and a renowned opponent of consumer right to repair laws. What’s more, the company announced in October at a White House meeting on right to repair that they will honor California’s law nationally and support the passage of a federal right-to-repair law.
Colorado Provides Relief To Wheelchair Users
The story around the enactment of Colorado’s historic wheelchair right to repair law in early 2023 was less complicated. The law, when passed in 2022, was the first non-automotive right to repair law passed anywhere in the U.S. It granted residents of that state who rely on power wheelchair access to parts and information needed to repair their wheelchairs. In February, we wrote about the impact that the law was having, speaking with Robin Bouldoc and her husband Bruce Goguen. Bruce suffers from primary, progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative illness. He requires a power wheelchair equipped with a respirator and a device that allows him to control the chair using head movements. Robin told us how the new Colorado law - which recently went into effect - was improving their lives, by giving them the ability to make needed changes to Bruce’s wheelchair configuration to suit their needs. Those were changes they previously relied on the wheelchair manufacturer to make via a visit from an authorized repair technician, requiring waits of days or weeks, in some cases.
Anti-Trust Suit against John Deere gains Steam
As we predicted last year, 2023 saw significant activity on the legal front targeting anti-competitive practices of manufacturers, who use outdated and extreme laws like Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to lock out customers and independent repair professionals from their platforms: essentially locking in de-facto monopolies on service and repair. One of the biggest tests of this is a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of farmers against agricultural equipment maker John Deere in January. The suit alleges the company illegally restricts their ability to repair their equipment. While most experts predict the suit will take years to wind its way through the court system, the plaintiffs scored some early victories in 2023. First, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urged the Illinois court hearing the case not to dismiss antitrust litigation against Deere. Then, in November, U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, Illinois, rejected John Deere's effort to dismiss the consolidated lawsuits saying that the plaintiffs met legal thresholds to pursue their claims.
"According to the complaint's allegations, Deere has the ultimate control of the repair services market," Johnston wrote in his 89-page order. "These allegations are not mere legal conclusions. The complaint is chock-full of factual allegations to support this conclusion." Judge Johnston’s ruling is a must-read for folks interested in the question of whether manufacturers might be held to account for abusive practices.
Finally, 2023 saw the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially close the door on one of agricultural equipment makers’ favorite anti- right to repair arguments: that right to repair laws risk violating federal clean air legislation. In an August letter from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the National Farmers Union, the EPA affirmed its support for the right to repair and clarified that the right to repair is compatible with Clean Air Act provisions.
Farmers win a Right to Repair in Colorado
But farmers in Colorado may not need to wait for the anti-trust suit against John Deere to work its way through the courts. That’s because the state became the first in the nation this year to give them a legal right to repair their agricultural equipment. In April, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, sitting in front of a large tractor parked in front of the Colorado State House, signed the nation’s first ever right to repair agricultural equipment into law.
Starting January 1, 2024, the act requires a manufacturer to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or similar information, to independent repair providers and owners of the manufacturer's agricultural equipment to allow an independent repair provider or owner to conduct diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services on the owner's agricultural equipment. A manufacturer's failure to comply with the requirement to provide resources is a deceptive trade practice and can be prosecuted by the State’s Attorney General.
“Farmers and ranchers can lose precious weeks and months when equipment repairs are stalled due to long turnaround times by manufacturers and dealers," Polis said as he signed the bill into law. "This bill will change that."
Victory in Maine, But a Mess in Mass on Auto Repair
The legal right to repair in the U.S. began with Massachusetts voters’ adoption of a ballot measure in 2012 guaranteeing vehicle owners and independent auto repair shops access to tools and information needed to repair vehicles. That became a de-facto federal law after automakers signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2014 recognizing the Massachusetts law in all 50 states.
In 2023 - more than a decade later - Maine became just the second state in the nation to enact a legal right to repair vehicles. Voters there passed Question 4, an automotive right to repair act, by an overwhelming majority, with 84% of voters voting YES.
Elsewhere, however, the news on auto repair was more murky. In Massachusetts, where voters overwhelmingly voted in November, 2020 to expand the 2012 law to give owners and independent repair shops access to wireless, telematics data related to vehicle repair, a lawsuit filed by automakers alleging that the Massachusetts law illegally pre-empted federal vehicle cyber safety regulations sits unresolved more than three years later. The case, sitting on the desk of federal Judge Douglas Woodlock with no ruling forthcoming, spawned confusion in 2023. That began with a declaration from Massachusetts newly elected Attorney General Andrea Campbell declaring her intention to begin enforcing the legislation. That prompted a surprise warning letter from NHTSA to automakers instructing them _not_ to comply with the Massachusetts law. And, a few weeks later, an about face with NHTSA saying that automakers could comply with the law by using short distance, Bluetooth connections to convey telematics information - a position that many local repair shops take issue with, as it leaves automakers and dealerships with the clear advantage of wireless access to vehicle telematics via cellular networks. In a statement, the Auto Care Association said that it appreciated NHTSA’s “willingness … to revisit its position on the enforceability of the law” but that it “does not support a Bluetooth solution; short range wireless communication does not create the level playing field expected by the voters of Massachusetts.”
Right To Repair Gets A Hearing on Capitol Hill
2023 saw increasing attention to the issue of Right to Repair in Washington D.C. That started in March, with a bipartisan group of Attorneys General representing over half of the US states and Guam urging Congress to pass right-to-repair laws
In a letter addressed to the heads of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the attorneys general urged Congress to pass “expansive Right to Repair legislation” covering automobiles, electronics and agricultural equipment.
It continued with a hearing in the House of Representatives on Right to Repair in July, in which Fight to Repair Editor in Chief Paul Roberts testified and which saw animated discussions of automotive and electronics right to repair from a (largely) sympathetic House Judiciary Subcommittee. You can check out the hearing here.
Finally, the Biden Administration hosting a Summit on Right to Repair in October to highlight federal- and state progress on securing a right to repair, including support from the FTC, EPA and Justice Department for ensuring a right to repair.