Apple endorses California’s Right to Repair legislation
This week, Apple wrote a surprising letter to California state senator Susan Talamantes Eggman. The expressed support for SB 244, a “right to repair” measure presently debated in Sacramento’s State Capitol building.
Apple has changed its position on right-to-repair laws in recent years. It added a Self Service Repair program last year, among other changes. Thanks to the service, users may rent equipment to fix iPhones and Macs at home. Many saw it as a preventive step against impending state and federal regulations.
Apple’s Exemplary Support:
Despite a few exceptions, such as gaming consoles and alarm systems, SB 244 covers various appliances and consumer gadgets, including phones, computers, microwaves, and washing machines. The justifications for those seem to be security and piracy, respectively. It has several similarities to Minnesota’s Right to Repair Act, which took effect in May, including the proposed name. Apple expresses its support in the letter because it allows customers to fix their devices safely without risk of privacy or data problems.
It’s uncommon for a manufacturer to offer this kind of support, especially Apple. It is now the only significant manufacturer to endorse the legislation in this way publicly. Usually, remarks of this nature come from trade associations like TechNet. Undoubtedly, Eggman and co-author Senator Nancy Skinner will benefit greatly from it. After all, Apple is a roughly $3 trillion business that has been based in California since the mid-1970s.
“Apple’s support for California’s Right to Repair Act demonstrates the power of the movement that has been building for years and the ability for industries to partner with us to make good policy to benefit the people of California,” Sen. Eggman says in the release. I’m grateful for their engagement on this issue and for leading among their peers when it comes to supporting access to repair.”
Lawmakers have submitted similar proposals from at least 14 different states. Governor Kathy Hochul of New York signed the Digital Fair Repair Act at the end of the previous year, which “requires original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to make diagnostic and repair information for digital electronic parts and equipment available to independent repair providers and consumers if such parts and repair information are also available to OEM authorized repair providers and services.”
The current California Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, passed back in 1970, serves as the foundation for California’s Right to Repair Act. Under the new law, producers must “make available, on fair and reasonable terms, to product owners, service and repair facilities, and service dealers, the means, as described, to effect the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of the product, as provided,” regardless of warranty.
