Colorado Passes Landmark Agricultural ‘Right To Repair’ Bill
Colorado is the latest state to move forward on new right to repair" legislation despite a growing and sustained lobbying effort by industry. The Colorado House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Consumer Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment Act (HB23-1011) with a 44-17 vote on Tuesday, the first major right to repair legislation to be passed so far in 2023.
The bill specifically takes aim at agricultural giants like John Deere, which have been working tirelessly for years to monopolize repair. Those efforts routinely and dramatically drive up costs for farmers, forcing them to pay thousands of additional dollars or take their broken tractors sometimes thousands of miles to a limited number of sanctioned dealer repair shops after years of consolidation.
HB23-1011 specifically requires that manufacturers make available all necessary materials to fix farm equipment such as tractors and combines. Right to repair activists are, unsurprisingly, pleased:
For decades, if something you owned broke, you could fix it yourself, take it to an independent repair shop or go back to the dealer or manufacturer," said Danny Katz, executive director of CoPIRG. Now, as more of our stuff, including agricultural equipment like tractors and combines, runs on software, manufacturers are able to lock us out. That undermines the repair marketplace and leads to longer delays and inflated repair bills. With fields to be plowed, planted and harvested, farmers don't always have the time to wait for whoever the manufacturer designates can fix their stuff."
The new bill comes immediately on the heels of a major effort by John Deere to try and stall meaningful right to repair legislation. The agricultural giant recently struck a memorandum of understanding" with the American Farm Bureau Federation promising that the company will make sure farmers have the right to repair their own farm equipment or go to an independent technician.
But as we noted at the time, John Deere's promises on this front haven't been worth much. The memorandum wasn't binding, and it demanded that American Farm Bureau and its members avoid supporting right to repair legislation. In short, it was a preemptive effort to try and forestall the kind of meaningful reform and legislation Colorado just passed.