Congratulations to everyone who has been fighting for the right to Repair. Yesterday (June 10, 2021) the NY state Senate had a floor vote that was 51-12 in favor of right to repair. This is big in three ways; 1) It's the first bill to make it out of committee and actually get a floor vote, 2) It was also the first bill to win a floor vote, and 3) 51-12 is a healthy margin -- sounds like the Buccaneers vs. Lions last year. 

If you're not familiar with how a bill becomes a law now is a good time to review the School House Rock video on the subject.

I'm Just a Bill (Schoolhouse Rock!)

So a hardy congratulations to everyone at Repair.org, iFixit, US PIRG, and the newly formed Fight for Repair organization.  This is a hard fought victory and these good people deserve all of the credit for continuing the fight.

If you care about the right to repair then they also deserve your financial support!

Gamechanger, Right?

Yea, sure it is. A win is a win is a win. This will help the movement gather momentum heading into the next legislative season which starts in 2022. Why does it wait till 2022? Well you see the NY Senate passed the measure but the house hasn't taken it up yet and the NY legislature just ended their 2021 session. Then when/if the house passes the bill it would need to be reconciled with the Senate (not always easy) and then go to the governor for a signature.

Good news, for sure, but the saga continues till next year as most state legislatures either have gone out of session, will be going out soon, or they are not moving a R2R bill. An eight year journey now moves into its ninth year advocating for right to repair.

The truth is that trying to get a bill passed in a state legislature is tough. Many of the R2R bills that have been presented in states are presented by inexperienced legislators who just want to have their name on a bill. Very few are actually passionate about R2R and allied with the movement. Being a state legislator is just like any other job, it's always good to make it look like your working.

If the stars were to align and everything went right the earliest that a right to repair bill could become law is later next year. THEN I guarantee that the OEMs, who are fighting extremely hard to make sure that R2R fails, are going to file a lawsuit against it and tie it up in court for years.

Don't believe me, look at the recently passed automotive R2R bill in Massachusetts. Soon after both parties spent a combined $43 million on the ballot initiative, which the good guys (repair people) won with 75% of the vote, the bad guys (OEMs) filed suit in federal court to block it. In the meantime the state legislators were trying to get bills passed to push the date of when the new R2R law would take effect to as many as four years from now.

That's a lot of time and money!

The most money ever raised by anyone for the digital right to repair movement currently stands at $745,492 by Louis Rossmann and his Fight to Repair group. An amazing amount of money but pretty far from his goal of $6million that he set out to raise. DON'T GET ME WRONG, that is an amazing amount of money. But is it enough?

I'm not trying to rain on the parade here but I do want people to understand that the right to repair battle is far from over. I really appreciate Louis Rossmann's videos because he isn't all hype on the matter. The dude seems to be pretty well grounded in his understanding of what it will take, while others give the impression that things might change overnight. They won't.

My point here is that it's going to take a lot more time to make R2R a reality. But many of its followers seem to think things are going to change soon. I know a few R2R advocates who were forced to close their business in the last year or two and they seemed to hold out hope until the very last minute that things were about to change. Believe me I hear it all the time when I talk to repair people who proclaim that right to repair is going to fix everything. Maybe. But what do repair people do right now? 

GET INVOLVED

Don't sit around hoping things will get better or counting on others to do what's right for your business. GET INVOLVED! Join and/or donate to one of the organization listed below, better yet join and donate to ALL of the organizations below. Each one of them is working for your success.

Fight to Repair created recently by Louis Rossmann which he states, "I have started a 501c4 nonprofit called Repair Preservation Group Action Fund which seeks to get Right to Repair legislation passed, through a direct ballot initiative." You can donate to his GoFundMe here: Let's get Right to Repair Passed!

The Repair Association created in 2013 by the SIA, ASCDI, NATD, EFF and iFixit which primarily advocates for right to repair legislation in state houses across the country. You can join them here: Repair.org Membership

U.S.PIRG created in 1984 and are a federation of U.S. and Canadian non-profit organization that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy on issues such as consumer protection, public health and transportation. The Right to Repair group is very active in lobbying state houses for right to repair legislation. You can donate here: U.S. PIRG Donations

Tech Care Association created in 2020 by Rob Link (me) to help companies in tech repair, tech reuse, and tech recycling succeed. Our focus is more on the day to day success and what we can do right now to help the industry to find greater success. You can join here: Tech Care Association Membership

Full disclosure: I am the Founder & CEO of the Tech Care Association. We are a non-profit organization that is focused on the day to day success of our members companies in the tech repair, tech reuse and tech recycling industry.

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Thanks for the read! 

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