Happy (Repair) Independence Day!
With right to repair laws in Minnesota and California taking effect, supporters are declaring July 1st Repair Independence Day.
As with so many other things, political change happens slowly - and then all at once. And that’s true of the multi-year push to win a right to repair, as well. But with right to repair laws going live in two U.S. states today, it’s time to celebrate our successes. That’s why July 1st is now declared (unofficially) as Repair Independence Day!
A decade-long struggle
The movement that (unofficially) began more than a decade ago with Massachusetts voters’ overwhelming passage of a ballot measure in 2012 ensuring a right to repair their vehicles languished for years as backers including Repair.org, US PIRG and iFixit fought to win an expanded right to repair the vast population of non-vehicular devices: from cell phones to laptops to home appliances and heavy equipment.
After watching scores of bills die in committee or go down to defeat, the dam finally started to break in 2022 when Colorado’s Governor, Jared Polis, signed into law legislation granting a legal right for Colorado residents to repair power wheelchairs - the first non-automotive right to repair bill to become law.
🗓️ Today at 4:30 PM: Repair Independence Day Live Chat
Join us today (July 1st) at 4:30 PM (1:30 PT) for a live chat with Liz Chamberlain, the Director of Sustainability at iFixit and Nathan Proctor, Director of US PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign. As a Fight to Repair subscriber, you can join the audience for our live chat.
And then things started to move. By the end of that year, New York’s governor signed an even broader (though hobbled) right to repair bill into law granting owners of a range of devices access to repair information, tools and parts. That set the stage for more, better state laws being signed into law in 2023, including a right to repair agricultural equipment in Colorado, and broader electronics right to repair bills in Minnesota and California. With each new law, the right to repair expands. For example, Minnesota’s law is the first that applies to “B2B” sales of enterprise equipment, while California’s consumer Right to Repair law is the first to guarantee access to parts, tools, and documentation for as long as 7 years. Oregon’s law, passed earlier this year, added the first prohibition against parts pairing, while Colorado’s banned parts pairing and added an even more robust protection for IT equipment sold to businesses.
The momentum continued this year, with even stronger right to repair laws being signed into law in Oregon and Colorado (so far).
Wanted: A day to celebrate repair
The fruits of those legislative victories are finally being borne. Today, July 1st, consumers in California and Minnesota will be able to exercise their legal right to repair their devices—including everything from cell phones to computers to refrigerators.
When combined with laws already in place in New York, that means around 20% of the U.S. population will be covered by electronics Right to Repair protections.
That’s cause for celebration, which is why Repair.org is declaring July 1st as Repair Independence Day: a day to recognize the victories of the last two years.
“Repair Independence Day marks the end of unfair and deceptive repair monopolies that have Manufacturers are changing both their policies and products in order to comply with new laws -- now in effect for a broad variety of products starting today, July 1,” Gay Gordon-Byrne, the Executive Director of The Repair Association. “Everyone will benefit,” she wrote.
But Repair Independence Day is also an opportunity to talk about what is yet to be done.
At the top of that list is how to actually use the new rights to repair that residents of the five states with right to repair laws have won. That’s why Repair.org has put together a Know your Rights webpage to walk citizens with a right to repair through the process of exercising that right.
Time to exercise your rights
The first big challenge will be getting consumers access to the information, parts and tools that right to repair laws entitle them to. That’s because - absent enforcement actions by state attorney generals - manufacturers are unlikely to change their practices.
Repair.org provides recommendations for consumers to find the parts, tools, or documentation they are looking for, including contacting the manufacturer’s customer service and making clear that a state law where you live guarantees you access to repair materials for your device, and that you would like to get access to the parts, tools, or documentation you need as a result.
Should that fail, the group also provides links to information on how to file complaints with the attorney general’s office in New York, California, Minnesota and other states with active right to repair laws.
Stay tuned for more coverage of Repair Independence Day!
This a great article and I am sharing it widely!