Rep. Logan Phillips, R-Mounds, has filed legislation creating the Digital Fair Repair Act.
Phillips, who serves as Chair of the House Technology Committee, has run this legislation, also known as Right to Repair, for the past three years.
“This is a simple issue. If you buy an item, you own it and you should be able to repair it,” Phillips said. “Right to Repair has become a visceral example of the enormous imbalance between workers, consumers, small businesses and larger entities. Limitations on repair have become a serious problem for all modern equipment, and also limit how equipment can be traded on the used market. Action must be taken now before this problem spirals any further out of control.”
Phillips said his House Bill 1011, carried over from last session, will provide the practical means for equipment owners to repair their own devices. While repair is legal under copyright law and patent law, owners are often prohibited from making their own repairs by manufacturer limitations on access to repair materials.
“The presence of technology parts in modern equipment has enabled manufacturers to reduce access to repair by proclaiming that repair might violate their proprietary rights,” Phillips said. “With this declaration they are infringing on the rights of a consumer to do with their property as they wish. In addition to the very apparent consumer rights issue, this is an environmental issue. E-waste represents 2% of America’s trash in landfills, but it equals 70% of overall toxic waste. 20-50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed of worldwide every year. If individuals had the parts and plans to repair their own devices, we could reduce those numbers significantly.”
Source: House release
