Twenty-three states have enacted or advanced right-to-repair legislation since 2020, forcing original equipment manufacturers to provide diagnostic tools, spare parts, and service documentation to independent repair shops and device owners. The laws vary sharply in scope, from agricultural equipment to powered wheelchairs, but the legislative pattern is consistent: consumer pressure converts ballot initiatives and state bills into binding compliance obligations.
New York: The First Domino (2022)
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Digital Fair Repair Act (S.983-A / A.7006-B) on December 28, 2022, making New York the first state to enact a consumer electronics right-to-repair law. The law covers digital electronic equipment manufactured after July 1, 2023, and requires OEMs to supply independent repair providers and device owners with the same parts, tools, and documentation made available to authorized service channels.
Compliance obligations for manufacturers took effect December 28, 2023, exactly one year after signing. The law excludes medical devices and motor vehicles. iFixit described the legislation as “a beachhead” that other states could use as a legislative template.
The Consumer Technology Association and CTIA both lobbied against the bill through multiple amendment rounds. The enacted version contained narrower scope than the original drafts: it applies to digital electronic equipment, not appliances, and requires documentation parity rather than pricing parity on parts.
New York’s passage triggered a wave of copycat filings. Within six months of signing, at least fourteen state legislatures had introduced substantially similar language.
Massachusetts: Automotive Data and a Four-Year Legal Battle
Massachusetts voters approved Question 1 on November 3, 2020, with 74.6 percent in favor: one of the widest margins for any ballot initiative that year. The measure expanded the state’s existing automotive right-to-repair law to require OEMs selling model year 2022 and later vehicles in Massachusetts to install standardized, non-proprietary telematics platforms and share vehicle data with independent shops and owners.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation filed suit weeks after certification, representing Ford, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, and others. The plaintiffs argued that mandatory data access created cybersecurity vulnerabilities and conflicted with federal law. The lawsuit placed the telematics provisions in limbo for four years.
On February 11, 2025, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper of the District of Massachusetts dismissed all remaining claims by the automakers. The ruling cleared the telematics mandate for enforcement, though the Alliance stated publicly it was evaluating an appeal to the First Circuit. The case remains a reference point for how OEM litigation can delay. But not necessarily defeat, voter-approved repair mandates.
California and Minnesota: 2023 Expansions
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 244 (Right to Repair Act) on October 10, 2023. The law took effect July 1, 2024, and is enforced by the California Attorney General. It applies to consumer electronics with a wholesale price of $50 or more and home appliances in the same price range.
SB 244 establishes a tiered support window: manufacturers must provide repair materials for at least three years after the last manufacturing date on products priced between $50 and $99.99; the window extends to seven years for products priced at $100 or above. “Repair materials” means parts, tools, and service documentation. Violation exposes manufacturers to AG enforcement action.
Minnesota’s Right to Repair Act, signed May 16, 2023, took a different approach. The state simultaneously enacted provisions covering home appliances and farm equipment, the first state to address agricultural machinery comprehensively in a right-to-repair framework. Farm equipment coverage addressed a long-standing dispute between independent technicians and manufacturers including John Deere over diagnostic software access.
Oregon and Colorado: The 2024 Class
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed SB 1596 on March 28, 2024. Effective January 1, 2025, it is the nation’s first right-to-repair law to explicitly ban “parts pairing”: the software practice that blocks functional third-party or used components by refusing to authenticate them unless a manufacturer’s proprietary tool is used. Parts pairing had been widely criticized by repair advocates as a technical workaround that neutered earlier repair mandates.
Oregon’s law covers consumer electronics generally used for personal or household purposes, cell phones sold in the state since July 2021, and laptops and other electronic devices sold since July 2015. Excluded categories include video game consoles, medical devices, solar panels, and agricultural equipment. The parts-pairing prohibition applies to covered devices manufactured after January 1, 2025; enforcement begins in 2027.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB24-1121 on May 28, 2024. The law covers a broad range of digital electronic equipment, personal electronics, printers, appliances, HVAC systems, music equipment, IT devices, and e-bikes, and takes effect January 1, 2026. A separate Colorado measure enacted earlier in 2024 specifically addressed powered wheelchairs and other assistive technology, prioritizing a device category where repair access has direct health consequences.
State-by-State Legislative Status
The following table summarizes enacted right-to-repair laws across key states. As of early 2025, iFixit confirmed that right-to-repair legislation had been introduced in all 50 states; none of the 30 additional bills introduced in 2024 passed into law that session.
| State | Bill / Measure | Year Enacted | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | Question 1 (2020) | 2020 | Automotive telematics data | Enacted; litigation dismissed Feb 2025 |
| New York | S.983-A / A.7006-B | 2022 | Consumer digital electronics | In effect since Dec 28, 2023 |
| Minnesota | Right to Repair Act | 2023 | Home appliances + farm equipment | In effect since May 2023 |
| California | SB 244 | 2023 | Electronics ($50+) and appliances | In effect since July 1, 2024 |
| Colorado | HB24-1121 | 2024 | Broad electronics + assistive tech | Effective Jan 1, 2026 |
| Oregon | SB 1596 | 2024 | Consumer electronics; bans parts pairing | In effect Jan 1, 2025; enforcement 2027 |
Federal Context and the FTC’s Role
The Federal Trade Commission released “Nixing the Fix” in May 2021, a 73-page report documenting how OEM repair restrictions harm consumers, raise costs, and disadvantage minority and lower-income households disproportionately. The report found no empirical evidence that independent repair compromises device safety or security at rates higher than authorized repair. The FTC used the report to support a July 2021 policy statement directing staff to prioritize right-to-repair enforcement under existing antitrust and consumer protection statutes.
No federal right-to-repair legislation has been enacted. The REPAIR Act (introduced in multiple sessions) and the FARM Act each cleared committee consideration but did not reach floor votes. The FCC has no direct authority over consumer electronics repair access.
The FTC’s 2021 position gave state legislatures political cover. Several state floor debates cited “Nixing the Fix” directly. The agency’s framing, that repair restrictions are a market power issue, not a safety issue: rebutted the primary OEM lobbying argument and weakened opposition testimony in state hearings.
Industry Opposition: How Manufacturers Responded
The Consumer Technology Association, CTIA, and individual manufacturers including Apple engaged lobbyists in all six enacted states. Opposition arguments focused on three claims: that independent repair creates cybersecurity risks; that unlicensed technicians cannot safely service modern electronics; and that parts availability requirements impose unreasonable inventory obligations on smaller OEMs.
None of those arguments succeeded in blocking enactment, but they shaped scope. New York’s final bill covered digital electronics only. Not appliances. California’s $50 price threshold excluded budget accessories. Oregon’s parts-pairing ban was diluted with a two-year enforcement delay to 2027. Colorado’s law contains exemptions for certain medical and safety-certified equipment.
Apple reversed its public opposition posture in 2022, launching a self-service repair program offering genuine parts and tools to consumers. Critics noted the program’s pricing structure made it cost-competitive with authorized service only for flagship device components, not mid-range products. The program did not satisfy the documentation-access requirements later codified in California’s SB 244.
For a comprehensive overview of federal activity and pending state bills, see the Right-to-Repair Laws US Tracker, updated as legislation moves through state chambers.
What Manufacturers Must Do Now
OEMs selling covered products in New York, California, and Oregon face the most immediate compliance obligations. Each state’s attorney general has enforcement authority; California’s AG has been the most active in consumer protection actions against electronics companies.
The practical compliance list is consistent across enacted laws: publish service documentation (schematics, diagnostic flowcharts, error code libraries) in a form accessible to independent repairers; make parts available at fair and reasonable prices without requiring authorized-dealer agreements; provide tools, including diagnostic software, on the same terms as authorized service providers.
Oregon adds a prohibition that the others do not: manufacturers cannot use software to prevent a device from recognizing a functional third-party component. That requirement will force firmware changes across product lines sold in Oregon after January 2025—and because device firmware is rarely region-locked, the practical effect is likely to be a national policy shift for affected device categories.
The six-state patchwork represents roughly 115 million consumers and more than one-third of U.S. electronics retail revenue. Whether Congress acts or not, compliance with state mandates now requires dedicated legal and engineering resources from any OEM with national distribution.