Over the last 20 years, various states have tried to establish lasting right-to-repair bills, which advocates for the right for consumers to fix the electronics and other items they own. Due to unique state regulations, each bill has slight differences, but most generally follows a model bill published by Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization dedicated to unbiased product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy, in December of last year. Now, many states are gearing up for a new wave of legislation attempting to get past the floor vote, something that not one bill has been able to do so far. Earlier this year, a Resource Recycling publication, E-Scrap News, published an article on 16 states who were looking to establish or gain traction with right-to-repair legislation. And now the publication has provided an overview on these 16 states are progressing with their right-to-repair bills.
Provided is a list of U.S. right-to-repair bills introduced this year:
- California: The bill was introduced in early February ad has been referred to committee. Currently, there are no scheduled hearings for the bill.
- Georgia: The bill has had no action since a House reading on Feb. 14.
- Hawaii: The bill was referred to committee, where it was deferred and has yet to receive further action.
- Illinois: Bills in both the Senate and House of Representatives sit in committee, with no action since late March.
- Indiana: The bill has received no action since its introduction on Jan. 14.
- Massachusetts: The bill was referred to a committee on Jan. 22 and has received no further action.
- Minnesota: The legislation was advanced out of committee in the House, but has yet to go before the entire chamber for a floor vote.
- Missouri: The bill was introduced and was recently referred to committee in late May.
- Montana: A bill was in the process of being drafted but died without ever being introduced.
- Nevada: Earlier this year, a bill was in the process of being drafted but has not yet been introduced. It will more than likely be introduced sometime next year.
- New Hampshire: The bill was referred to committee and has not received action since early March.
- New Jersey: A bill introduced during the 2018 legislative session is still in committee.
- New York: The bill was introduced and referred to committee, where it has yet to receive further action.
- North Dakota: The bill moved through committee and failed to pass a floor vote.
- Oregon: The bill was referred to a committee and had a public hearing, however it has not received action since late April.
- South Dakota: The bill was read and referred to a committee, where it was deferred without further action.
- Vermont: A bill was introduced and referred to committee and has not received further action.
- Virginia: The bill was referred to committee, where it received no further action.
- Washington: Bills were introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives and referred to committees. It passed out of the House committee but has not gone to the floor for a full chamber vote.
- West Virginia: The bill was referred to committee, where it received no further action.