The Right to Repair passes the House with bipartisan support

On Tuesday, March 4th, the Right to Repair (HB 1483) was successfully voted out of Washington’s House of Representatives by a near-unanimous vote of 94-1. This is a big step forward in our work to give Washingtonians the right to repair their electronic devices when they break.

Currently, manufacturers restrict access to the parts, tools, and information we need to fix our electronic devices and household appliances. When devices can’t be fixed, consumers are forced to pay high prices for repair or replace the item, which adds to our growing e-waste problem. The Right to Repair would ban these restrictions, make repair more affordable and accessible for Washingtonians, and reduce electronic waste.

Just one day before the vote, WashPIRG held a press conference with city leaders and consumer advocates to urge legislators to pass repair policies. WashPIRG Associate Kathryn Horvath was joined by Seattle Deputy Mayor Jessyn Farrell, General Manager and CEO of Seattle Public Utilities Andrew Lee, and Morgan Costello-Hostettler with PCs for People to talk about how right to repair legislation would benefit consumers, independent repair, and the environment.

“WashPIRG’s research found that if Right to Repair policies in Washington allowed people to extend the life span of our most common electronics and appliances by just 50%, the state would cut the same amount of climate pollution as would taking about 76 thousand cars off the road for one year,” said WashPIRG Campaign Associate Kathryn Horvath.

The Right to Repair now advances to the state Senate, where the companion Senate Bill 5423 will have until April 2 to pass out of the policy committee.

Send a message to your Senator to urge them to support the Right to Repair.