Lawmakers in Maine are considering making dramatic changes to right-to-repair legislation that was recently voted into law, Portland Press Herald reports.
The right to repair ballot initiative, launched by the Maine Right to Repair Coalition, received 84% approval from voters this past November.
The state aims to implement the law in two steps: beginning this month, automakers are now required to make their advanced diagnostic repair data accessible. The second step requires a cyber-secure database for storing all of this data to be up and running by this time next year, along with an independent oversight board ensuring that manufacturers are supplying the data they’re supposed to.
Now that the law has been passed, lawmakers are struggling with how to establish the database and oversight board, and many have suggested that the second step be thrown out entirely.
A bill presented by Rep. Bruce White, D-Waterville prior to the 2023 ballot initiative proposed to nix the database and oversight committee, but was carried over at the end of last year’s legislative session due to time constraints. Now, it is being reviewed by the Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement, and Business Committee, who discussed the bill during a work session this past Friday.
Reasons for getting rid of the database and oversight committee include litigation concerns. Massachusetts was sued by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation over its own right to repair legislation that was passed in 2020, although as recently as this month there have been no further updates on the status of the case.
During Friday’s work session, Rep. Amanda Collamore, R-Pittsfield also cited worries over the oversight committee having access to consumers’ data through the database.
“My private information should stay with manufacturers as recommended by the federal entities because they already have access to it when I purchased the vehicle anyway,” said Collamore.
Maine’s Right to Repair Coalition has objected to the proposed changes to the recently passed law, arguing that it would hamper the bill’s goal of providing all repairers with access to data.
