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)
Update 10:30pm 12/19/2022: Because of a misinterpretation of NY legislature rules, an earlier version of this post suggested the NY Governor had 30 days to pass the Digital Fair Repair. She has 10 days, or until midnight on Dec. 28. Ars regrets the error.
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 on Dec. 28.
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.