SACRAMENTO, Calif. — New legislation supporting the “right to repair” has been introduced in the California State Assembly this week by Assemblymember Dr. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), according to her website.
The California Right to Repair Act “would require manufacturers of electronics to make diagnostic and repair information, as well as equipment or service parts, available to product owners and to independent repair shops,” according to the press release.
California joins Washington, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia, which have already introduced similar legislation.
“The bill is critical to protect independent repair shops and a competitive market for repair, which means better service and lower prices. It also helps preserve the right of individual device owners to understand and fix their own property. We should encourage people to take things apart and learn from them. After all, that’s how many of today’s most successful innovators got started,” Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Staff Attorney Kit Walsh said in the announcement.