LOUISIANA RECORD

Attorney General Jeff Landry joined a bipartisan coalition of 27 attorneys general calling upon Congress to protect farmers and other consumers by passing Right-to-Repair legislation targeted at automobiles, agriculture equipment, and digital electronic equipment.

Expansive Right-to-Repair legislation would ensure small businesses can remain competitive against closed systems favored by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). It would also ensure farmers can repair agricultural equipment at a reasonable cost and consumers can repair electronics instead of replacing them, where that makes the most sense."At a time when farm input and food prices are rising, farmers do not need unnecessary disruptions to planting and harvesting," said Attorney General Landry. "Congress should act to help these farmers make repairs affordably and quickly."In a letter to congressional leaders, Attorney General Landry and his colleagues from across the political spectrum explained that as vehicles, farm equipment, and digital devices have become more technologically advanced and OEMs often control access to electronic parts. This creates an unfair restraint of trade and a monopoly on repair, which directly affects consumers with increased prices.Attorney General Landry's coalition encouraged Congress to consider three pieces of proposed legislation from the 117th Congress that were never passed, despite widespread public support for Right-to-Repair legislation:

• The Fair Repair Act: Requires OEMs to make documentation, parts, and tools available to independent repair providers and device owners to repair products - with exclusions for vehicles and medical devices.
• The SMART Act: Limits liability for infringement of a design patent based on appearance for a part of a vehicle’s exterior and creates a sunset provision on a design patent for an exterior component if an otherwise infringing part is used to repair a vehicle.
• The REPAIR Act: Requires OEMs to provide a vehicle’s owner with data related to diagnostics, repair, calibration, and service through a standardized access platform. The bill would also prevent OEMs from mandating specific brands of parts, tools, and equipment be used on a vehicle - absent a recall.

Joining Attorney General Landry in this effort were the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Original source can be found here.