Lobbyists have held up nation’s first right-to-repair bill in New York
Enlarge / Tech companies, including Apple, have lobbied hard to prevent a New York bill that would require them to make repair information and parts available to individuals and non-affiliated repair techs. (credit: Getty Images)
The Digital Fair Repair Act, the first right-to-repair bill to entirely pass through a state legislature, is awaiting New York Governor Kathy Hochul's signature. But lobbying by the nation's largest technology interests seems to have kept the bill parked on her desk for months, where it could remain until it dies early next year.
Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Repair Association, said that "opposition has not backed off" despite the bill's nearly unanimous passage in June. Gordon-Byrne has heard that industry groups are pushing for late amendments favoring tech firms but that the bill's sponsors would have to approve—or convince the governor to sign the bill without them. "It's up to the sponsors at this point," she said.
The final version of the bill received rare bipartisan support, passing the state assembly 147–2 and the senate 59–4. The bill was delivered to the governor Friday, according to the New York Senate's bill tracker, though she has been considering it since late June.