Yesterday, the New York state senate passed a groundbreaking ‘digital fair repair act’ by a huge majority. While it still needs to pass the state Assembly and be signed by the governor before becoming law, it’s the first bill of its kind to make it this far in the USA in the face of heavy opposition from tech companies.
The bill aims to do the following:
This bill require original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to make diagnostic and repair information for digital electronic parts and equipment available to independent repair providers and consumers if such parts and repair information are also available to OEM authorized repair providers.
The hope seems to be that if this bill does eventually make it into law, it could have a domino effect, forcing OEMs to adopt these practices across the whole country.
iFixit has much more on this:
[UPDATE: this bill has also passed the Assembly too ]
Yes, it needs to make it through the Assembly/plenary - the schedule is very tight for this year, and industry lobbyists will do everything to get it delayed til next year and threaten all of the Assembly members all the way through.
As a NYer who worked on getting this to the Senate floor over the past 5 years, it has a more nuanced impact than “nothing”.
The NY Senate generally brings “non-controversial” bills to the floor this late in the game. Essentially, these are bills known to have broad support and will pass easily without slowing down the very fast-paced end of session voting calendar.
Our session in New York re-opens again January 2022 and with this hurdle passed we anticipate easily moving this back through the Senate and then the Assembly in short order at the beginning of the session.
Each year we’ve moved this bill further and further—it was stuck in committee for several years and never received a vote due to lobbying. The act of being brought to the floor for a vote is very significant as it indicates large support and confidence by the body that it will pass and become law.
R2R is fighting against decades of a sell/dispose/repeat mindset and the fantastic profitability that comes with that.
The New York ruling is another example of baby steps, which have cleared a hurdle responsible for the demise of many other R2R attempts. Although it’s not a done deal (yet), there is much to be positive about.
Nearly half the states in the USA have R2R on their 2021 agendas, so hopefully this momentum will continue.
I’m excited about the coverage that R2R is receiving in mainstream media. I was asked to speak about R2R again on the PC Pro podcast this week - that’s two weeks on the bounce for an R2R story and I cover the subject once again in the next issue of the magazine.
More people are hearing the message and understanding why R2R is such an important component in a circular economy.
Hi Jeannie. Thank you for explaining a little more about the history and positive implications of this bill and helping to get it as far as it has, sounds like everyone involved has admirable tenacity. I wish progress wasn’t hampered by long waits but realise you’ve got to work with what you have! Let’s hope January 2022 brings really good news regarding this bill!
Also noting that ex NY State Assembly member, now US Congressional Rep, Morelle just introduced the first national Right to Repair legislation in Congress.
So the many years of work by @Jeannie_Crowley and others may have national rewards.
A fantastic update on this bill, which emphatically passed the state Assembly late last week (by 145 votes to 1)!!
It will now go to the state’s Governor, who is expected to sign it into law.
The bill covers a wide range of devices with a microprocessor, including cell phones, tablets and IT equipment. However, it excludes cars (which have a previous Right to Repair agreement), farm and heavy equipment, appliances, police radios, medical equipment and gaming consoles. It requires manufacturers to make repair materials – parts, tools and service information – available to consumers and independent repair providers on fair and reasonable terms.
It’s a big win for the Right to Repair, so huge congratulations to @Jeannie_Crowley and everyone else who have been pushing for this for years
More details from iFixit:
And you can listen to some key figures from the US Right to Repair movement discuss what this means here:
The New York law includes provisions for resetting the software locks that some manufacturers use to tie parts to the device’s motherboard or serial number. Manufacturers will have to find some way to make parts pairing reset tools available to the public.
I wonder if that means your parts won’t need to be paired via the manufacturer at all? i.e. you won’t be tied to using official parts. Or you still will, but you can pair it yourself, rather than only authorised repairers being able to.
Are all those things other than cars just the legislators backing down on some fronts due to pressure from the many unethical companies? It seems a bit shitty for appliances to be off that list, being what we see most of here.
Good question Andy, I’m not really familiar enough with the details to know why it doesn’t include those product categories. The focus of the law is on manufacturers who sell “digital electronic products”, so that may be why it doesn’t cover appliances. I imagine farm and heavy equipment, police radios and medical equipment would require more specific measures.
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