Rhode Island Right to Repair bills

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In the January Session of Rhode Island's House of Representatives 2 members submitted bills regarding the Right to Repair. These 2 bills were submitted by Representatives Rebecca Kislak (D) and Mary Ann Shallcross (D).
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Representative Rebecca Kislak (D)

Representative Mary Ann Shallcross (D)


Bill H-7095

Relating to Commercial Law - General Regulatory Provisions - Digital Electronics Right to Repair Act

"This bill will require that all digital electronic equipment - and parts for such equipment - that are sold or used in the state of Rhode Island by original equipment manufacturers shall be made available to any independent repair providers and owners of digital electronic equipment manufactured by on behalf of, or sold by such original equipment manufacturers, on fair and reasonable terms, any documentation, parts and tools required for the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of such digital electronic equipment and parts for the equipment; including all updates. The documentation, parts and tools shall be made available either directly by the original equipment manufacturers or via an authorized repair provider or distributer."

  1. Original manufactures of equipment shall not use parts pairing or any other mechanisms to prevent the installation or functioning of any otherwise-functional part; including non-original manufacturer approved replacements parts or components.
  2. The original manufacturers cannot inhibit or reduce the functioning of any part such that the replacement by an independent repair provider or the device owner would cause the device to operate with reduced functionality or performance.
  3. Original manufacturers may not create false, misleading, deceptive or non-dimissible alerts or warning about parts
  4. Original manufactuers may not charge additional fees or increase their prices for future repairs
  5. They also cannot limit who can purchase parts or perform repair services
    1. For equipment that would require deactivating a lock for purposes of repair, the Original manufacturer shall make available to any owner or independent repair provider - with the express permission of the owner, on fair and reasonable terms - provide any special documentation, tools and parts needed to access and reset the lock or or function when disabled in the course of diagnosis, maintenance or repair of such equipment. This documentation, tools and parts may be made available through an appropiate secure release system.

This bill also states that the Original manufacturers are not required to make available special documentation, tools and parts that would disable or override anti-theft security measures set by the owner of the product without the owner's authorization. This would mean that you can't just steal someone's device and have the manufacturer provide you with the information on how to unlock the locked device.


Bill 2024-H 7229

Relating to Commercial Law - General Regulatory Provisions Agricultural Equipment Right to Repair Act

"For electronics-enabled agricultural equipment, and parts for such equipment, sold or used in this state, an original equipment manufacturer shall make available, for purposes of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of such equipment, to any independent repair provider, or to the owner of electronics-enabled agricultural equipment manufactured by or on behalf of, sold or otherwise supplied by, the original equipment manufacturer, on fair and reasonable terms, documentaion, parts, and tools, inclusive of any updates to information or embedded software. Nothing in this section requires an original equipment manufacturer to make available documentation, parts and tools if such documentation, parts and/or tools are no longer available to the original equipment manufacturer."

Enforcement

  1. Any person suffering loss due to a violation of this chapter may recover actual damages, reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs
  2. The attorney general may enforce the provisions of this chapter in an action for an injunction or other equitable relief
  3. Any action for damages pursuant to this chapter or to enforce the provisions of this chapter shall be filed within 3 years of the violation

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