Right to Repair legislation hits Congress

Driven by US PIRG organizers and our coalition partners, Right to Repair bills have had significant success in the states. Now Right to Repair legislation is hitting Congress.

Why is Right to Repair legislation necessary?

It’s common sense that if you own something and it breaks, you should be able to fix it at a reasonable price. But more and more often – for devices that span the gamut from appliances and cell phones to smart watches and tractors – manufacturers are preventing you from fixing your own stuff.

Companies do this in a variety of ways. They may refuse to share the parts, tools or information you or a third party repairer needs. Sometimes repair functions are buried behind digital locks that also protect copyrighted materials, making it a crime to go in and fix your own product. In other cases, the product is actually designed to become obsolescent.

In every case, the result is delays, higher prices and a culture of disposability that is creating huge environmental problems.

What Right to Repair Legislation is Congress currently working on?

Here are some significant Right to Repair bills your representative and senators should hear from you about now before the current Congress ends in December.

H.R.8544/S.4422 – The Fair Repair Act

If your stuff breaks, you should be able to fix it or take it to your local repair shop. But manufacturers of digital electronic devices all too often only provide the parts, tools or information needed to make repairs to their authorized retailers. Why? So they can monopolize repair and increase prices.

The Fair Repair Act will require manufacturers to provide the same resources they provide to their own authorized retailers to independent repair providers and owners at fair market prices. TLDR: if your cell phone breaks, you or the neighborhood repair shop of your choice will have everything necessary to repair your phone at a fair price.

Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-NY-25) and Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) introduced the Fair Repair Act in the House and Senate respectively. This is fundamental Right to Repair legislation that Congress should act on now. Please call or email your Representative and Senators and ask them to cosponsor these bills.

H.R.8070/S.4638 – The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

It may seem hard to believe, but it’s true: the same fundamental right to repair problem that plagues everyday Americans – we should be able to fix our own stuff – is also an ongoing problem for the U.S. Department of Defense. It’s obvious that our nation’s military should be able to fix its own equipment instead of having to rely on slow and costly repairs by contractors.

Two Right to Repair champions are aiming to fix this problem. In the House, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez (WA-03) offered an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) noting that “it is integral that the military be able to fix its own equipment, and that efforts deliberately designed to prevent the military end user from fixing equipment in the field harm our nation’s military readiness” and demanding a plan from the Department of Defense.

In the Senate, Sen. Warren (D-MA) has added a requirement that the Department of Defense may not enter into a procurement contract “unless the contractor agrees in writing to provide the Department of Defense fair and reasonable access to all the repair materials, including parts, tools, and information, used by the manufacturer or provider or their authorized partners to diagnose, maintain, or repair the good or service.”

These are common sense reforms to our nation’s defense procurement process. Urge your Representative to support Section 857 and your Senators to support Section 828 in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.

H.R.906 – The REPAIR Act

Modern cars gather data on everything from how you drive to the maintenance needs of your vehicle. BUT, they don’t necessarily share that data with anyone except their authorized retailers (and third-party data brokers). The REPAIR Act aims to fix that by requiring manufacturers to provide you with real-time data on your car. You will also be able to share it with your local repair shop so they can repair your car and you aren’t forced to go to the vehicle manufacturer’s authorized dealer.

The REPAIR was introduced by Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL-2). Let’s support our right to get our own data and our local repair shops by passing this legislation. Call or email your Representative today and ask them to support H.R.906 – the REPAIR Act.

H.R.5604 – The Agricultural Right to Repair Act

Rep. Pérez – along with Reps. Joe Neguse (CO-02), Elissa Slotkin (MI-07), and Abigail Spanberger (VA-07) – has also introduced the Agricultural Right to Repair Act. The bill will require manufacturers of tractors, combines and other farm equipment to provide farmers and independent mechanics consumers and independent repair providers the documentation, parts, software, firmware, and tools needed to maintain and repair farm equipment on fair and reasonable terms as well as any farm equipment data.

This bill is important for farmers because broken equipment combined with repair restrictions that force them to rely solely on authorized dealerships often cause unnecessary cost increases and delays that endanger their crops. (For more information, see our Deere in the Headlights and Deere in the Headlights II reports.) U.S. PIRG Education Fund estimates that Right to Repair reforms would save U.S. farmers up to $4.2 billion per year by providing farmers with independent repair options.

Support your state’s farmers by calling or emailing your Representative and asking them to co-sponsor H.R.5604 – The Agricultural Right to Repair Act.