Oregon Passes Right To Repair Law Apple Lobbied To Kill

Oregon has officially become the seventh state (behind New York, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota) to pass “right to repair” legislation, making it easier and more affordable for consumers to independently repair their own electronics.

The bill, which passed the Oregon Senate last month 25-5 and the House on Monday 42-13, is a bit more robust than the versions passed in earlier states. Among other things, the bill requires that device manufacturers make parts, tools and repair manuals available to consumers and third-party repair shops on “fair and reasonable terms.”

But it also takes aim at “parts pairing,” or the practice of preventing you from replacing device parts without the approval of a company or its restrictive software. Apple, which routinely uses this practice to try and monopolize repair, lobbied extensively against the Oregon bill. As usual, under the (false) claim that eliminating parts pairing would put public safety and security at risk:

“We remain very concerned about the risk to consumers imposed by the broad parts-pairing restrictions in this bill,” John Perry, principal secure repair architect for Apple, said at a legislative hearing last month.”

In reality, Apple is concerned that the crackdown on “parts pairing” will further erode the company’s lucrative efforts to monopolize repair and slow down the rate of shiny new phone sales. Apple has generally tried to pretend than its done a complete 180 on right to repair, when it’s generally been more of a 40 degree turn toward slightly more reasonable policies.

Interestingly, Google supported Oregon’s legislation, and has more genuinely been migrating away from the practice of parts pairing. Activist and consumer groups like iFixit praised the bill’s passage in a statement:

“I’m beyond proud of my home state for passing the strongest-yet electronics Right to Repair bill,” Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, said in a statement. “By applying to most products made after 2015, this law will open up repair for the things Oregonians need to get fixed right now. And by limiting the repair-restricting practices of parts pairing, it protects fixing for years to come. We won’t stop fighting until everyone, everywhere has these rights.”

Oregon’s bill is notable because it wasn’t aggressively watered down post-passage like some right to repair legislation (See: New York). It’s expected the bill will face industry lawsuits. Still, right to reform remains one reform bright spot in a country where consumer protection has been on the chopping block for the better part of the last quarter century.