'Right to repair' focus of new Luján bill, EPA guidance

Sandia Computers technician Bobby Foster often sees customers opt to buy a new laptop instead of getting their old one fixed, a decision he can’t blame them for since it can be cheaper to just buy new.

“A lot of newer tech — mainly on laptops — are designed by the manufacturer to where it’s impossible to repair or very difficult,” Foster said.

It used to be relatively cheap and easy to replace a broken key on a laptop keyboard, Foster said, but contemporary designs often have a keyboard that is one piece connected to things like a trackpad and power button, making a repair pricier.

He’s seen similar changes to cellphone design. Design decisions like making the phone battery significantly more difficult to access and replace make repairs more costly.

The design choices have impacted the business he works at, Foster said, and generate a lot of electronic waste. That’s why he’d support a right to repair.

Stephen Armijo, president of computer shop The PC Place II, is more skeptical of the idea, because he gets the tools and diagnostics he needs to fix computers from all but one major computer company. He's not convinced a new law would change anything. 

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., recently introduced legislation to make it easier for consumers to repair their electronics, the latest swing in the effort to pass right-to-repair laws. No federal right-to-repair law exists, but at least six states have passed such measures. Last year, New Mexico legislators introduced a state bill to create a right-to-repair law in the state, but it failed to pass.

“For far too long, the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations have made it more difficult for Americans to repair the products they own," Luján said in a statement. “The costs of these barriers can add up to a significant financial burden for families each year.”

Luján introduced the Fair Repair Act, alongside Reps. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., and Marie Glusenkamp Perez, D-Wash., which requires manufacturers to make diagnostic and repair information, parts and tools available to third-party repairers and electronics owners in a timely manner and on “fair and reasonable terms.”

Consumer Reports supports the bill, which includes measures such as prohibiting manufacturers from preventing the installation or functioning of an otherwise functional part, including a replacement part the manufacturer hasn’t approved. In devices that use software and connect to the internet, manufacturers sometimes flash warnings that can’t be dismissed when non-approved parts are installed or can even use software to break a repair if the part did not come from the manufacturer, according to Stacey Higginbotham, a Consumer Reports policy fellow.

The legislation could make it easier to get appliances like refrigerators repaired, she said.

“This bill makes it possible for independent repair shops to exist and for consumers to get access to the information they need to repair things so they can repair their devices, hopefully more cheaply, hopefully more quickly and more conveniently,” Higginbotham said.

Luján’s bill wouldn’t apply to medical devices, safety communication equipment, vehicles or nonroad vehicles. That includes farming equipment like tractors, according to the senator’s office.

However, farmers got some assurance they can make repairs in recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance.

The EPA clarified guidance on the Clean Air Act that farmers are allowed to temporarily disable emissions systems in order to repair their equipment. The guidance came after farm equipment company John Deere requested it and applies to all nonroad diesel engines equipped with advanced emission control technologies. The Biden administration took a similar position in a 2023 letter to the National Farmers Union.

“EPA is proud to set the record straight and protect farmers,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “For far too long, manufacturers have wrongly used the Clean Air Act to monopolize the repair markets, hurting our farmers.”

It’s nice to know farmers have that blessing from the EPA, said Ben Etcheverry, a New Mexico Chile Association board member. But when it comes to difficulty repairing their equipment, the problem is usually a lack of access to proprietary software to diagnose equipment issues, Etcheverry said. Sometimes separate software is needed to activate new parts, he said, and repair costs can quickly rise.

It really becomes an issue on large, modern tractors used for plowing fields or planting seeds.

“We're talking the big monster tractors that you think about when you think about a farm,” he said. “We use those for deep soil tillage. We use those to pull precision planters.”

The tractors are equipped with GPS software, a vital tool when using drip irrigation, he said.

“It's the most critical tool we have for being responsible stewards of water consumption,” Etcheverry said.

In his experience, it typically takes equipment manufacturers two to three days to send a technician out who can help with repairs.

“Technology was supposed to save us, and the more technology we get, the harder it gets, it seems,” Etcheverry said.

Cathy Cook covers the federal government for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com