When New York became the first state to pass a heavily amended right-to-repair bill late last year, it was clear that lobbyists had succeeded in making last-minute changes to the law’s features. A new report from the online magazine Grist details the ways in which Gov. Kathy Hochul made changes identical to those proposed by the technology trade association.
In a report published jointly with The Markup, a non-profit newsroom, Maddie Stone writes that documents regarding the development and discussion of the bill show that many of the changes Hochul signed were the same as those proposed by TechNet, which represents Apple., Google, Samsung and other technology companies.
The bill would require companies that provide parts, tools, manuals, and diagnostic equipment or software to their own repair networks to also make them available to independent repair shops and individuals. Before he left, he faced strong opposition from trade groups. New York Assemblywoman Patricia Fahey, the bill’s sponsor, told Grist that supporters had to make “a lot of changes to get it to the finish line in the first or two days of June.”The bill was passed with broad bipartisan support, but it was cut to focus only on small electronics.
Between that passage and the December signing, lobbyists working for TechNet and firms including Apple, Google and Microsoft met with the governor, according to the state’s ethics filing. Apple, IBM, and TechNet approached Hochul to veto the bill, while Microsoft sought to work with Fahy to make changes.
Later, Grist said, TechNet sent out a version of the bill that limited the scope to later products and excluded circuit boards and inter-corporate or government contracts. It’s important to note that the new version, which includes changes attributed to a TechNet VP, allows companies to offer “builds”of parts if the companies say the parts pose a “security risk.”The TechNet version also suggests that independent repair shops should be forced to provide customers with a “Written Notice of US Warranty Laws”before they can begin work.
TechNet’s proposals have reached the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC officer targeted the assembly clause, the repair security workaround exception, and other items. Dan Salsburg, general counsel for the FTC’s Office of Technology, Research and Investigations, wrote that TechNet’s proposals have “a common theme – ensuring that manufacturers maintain market control to repair their products.”
A TechNet spokesperson told Grist that the original New York bill “posed unacceptable risks to consumer privacy and data security.”Chris Gillrain of TechNet told Grist that even the final law “remains a state-sanctioned transfer of intellectual property. .. with consumers having access to more repair options than ever before.”
The New York Senate has yet to pass the revised bill, although it is expected to do so. State regulators may refine aspects of the bill in the final version. And proponents of repair and environmentalism are hoping New York’s first bill, clumsy as it is, could spark similar debates and laws in other states.
You can read a lot more about the New York City renovation bill and see how lobbyist language literally turned it into the final wording on Grist.
Disclosure: The author previously worked for iFixit, a repair company. He has no financial stake in the company.