Last March Oregon became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came on the heels of legislation passed in Massachusetts (in 2012 and 2020), Colorado (in 2022 and 2023), New York (2023), Minnesota, Maine and California. All told, 30 states are considering such bills in 2024.
While the popular reforms are a nice example of U.S. consumer rights headed in the right direction, many of the bills (like New York’s) were watered down almost to the point of uselessness to appease larger tech companies. And in many states, companies simply aren’t complying because enforcement has been largely absent.
A recent report by PIRG examined 21 different mainstream tech devices subject to New York’s recently passed electronics Right to Repair law, then graded them “based on the quality and accessibility of repair manuals, spare parts, and other critical repair materials.” Most fared poorly in terms of easy access to parts and manuals, and New York’s done zero enforcement of its own law so far:
“The New York Right to Repair Bill has had mixed success. It has gone a long way in pushing companies towards greater repair standards, but it has been surpassed by newer repair bills in other states like the recent passage in Oregon. In order for this bill to remain useful for the people of New York, it should be updated to bring it in line with newer repair standards, as well as provide greater enforcement to move companies towards full compliance in the future.“
NY’s lax enforcement is not particularly surprising, given that NY Governor Kathy Hochul went out of her way to make her state’s law as loophole-filled as possible.
In California, the state legislature recently passed SB-244, the Right to Repair Act, which only just took effect last July. The bill requires that appliance and electronics companies make repair manuals, parts, and tools widely available to consumers, repair shops, and service dealers. But companies in California also seem in no particular rush to come into compliance with the new state law:
“Even though the law’s been in effect for nearly two months now, a couple repair shop owners tell KSBY some manufacturers are not following it…[local independent repair shop owner Eric] Vanderlip told KSBY he reached out to Bose and Polk Audio for schematic diagrams and manuals for certain products, but neither would provide them.
KSBY then reached out to both companies and has not heard back.”
Cool.
Laws are, of course, only worth something if they’re meaningfully enforced, and so far there have not been many indications that major companies are rushing to comply with these new consumer right to repair protections, or that state officials are in any particular rush to make them. Granted many of these laws are new, and it’s going to take a few shots over the bows of major offenders to spark compliance.
The problem is many of these bills already carved out many of the more problematic industries and hardware, including agricultural hardware and medical gear manufacturers. It’s been amazing to see the progress activists have made with these reforms, but it would be a shame if such reforms with widespread bipartisan support wound up being predominantly performative.
