LA City Council passes resolution to support the Right to Repair Act

Los Angeles has now joined the likes of San Diego and Truckee to officially endorse the Right to Repair Act through a city council resolution earlier this month. Los Angeles County has already taken a support position on the CALPIRG-backed legislation, along with Los Angeles Unified School District.

You can read the full council resolution below:

WHEREAS, electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest growing waste streams on the planet, and it is estimated that Californians throw away 46,900 cell phones every day and discard 772,000 tons of e-waste each year; and

WHEREAS, many discarded devices could be used again, but simple repairs are impossible without the proper tools and information; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report, Nixing the Fix: An FTC Report to Congress on Repair Restrictions, which found that “[m]any consumer products have become harder to fix and maintain” because repairs tend to require “specialized tools,
difficult-to-obtain parts, and access to proprietary diagnostic software;” and

WHEREAS, many consumer device and appliance manufacturers restrict consumer and independent repair shops’ access to such repair materials, instead providing them only to ‘authorized’ repair networks, reducing competition and consumer choice and resulting in higher repair prices and more devices being scrapped instead of repaired; and

WHEREAS, according to a recent report by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Repair Saves Families Big: Americans Are Churning Through Electronics, and It’s Not Cheap, repairing instead of replacing electronic products could save American households approximately $382 each year, adding up to over $5 billion in savings for Californians; and

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 244 (Eggman) would require the manufacturers of electronics or appliance products to make available to product owners and service and repair facilities the parts, tools, and service materials needed to diagnose, maintain, and repair their products; and

WHEREAS, providing independent repair shops and product owners with the correct information and parts to make repairs efficiently will stimulate jobs within the communities where repairs are needed, reduce unnecessary e-waste from products with simple fixes, and make it easier and cheaper to get consumer electronics and appliances fixed;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, with the concurrence of the Mayor, that by the adoption of this Resolution, the City of Los Angeles hereby includes in its 2023-2024 State Legislative Program SUPPORT for SB 244 (Eggman), which would require the manufacturers of electronics or appliance products to make available to product owners and service and repair facilities the parts, tools, and service materials needed to diagnose, maintain, and repair their products.