Oregon sends broad right-to-repair bill to governor

A bill to ensure that consumers have the right to repair most electronics and appliances is on its way to the desk of Oregon’s governor.

Senate Bill 1596 would require consumer electronics and household appliance manufacturers to provide documentation, tools and parts for diagnosing, maintaining or repairing the equipment.

It also has a provision to restrict parts pairing, which is when a company includes software in devices that ensure it will only operate with parts approved by the manufacturer. If signed, it will be the first law to include such a ban. 

The ban would stop OEMs from using parts pairing to prevent repairs using unapproved parts and from reducing “the functionality or performance of consumer electronic equipment.” The bill also notes that OEMs cannot “cause consumer electronic equipment to display misleading alerts or warnings, which the owner cannot immediately dismiss, about unidentified parts.”

The bill does not cover motor vehicles, off-road vehicles, farming equipment, medical devices, HVAC systems, solar panels or solar energy storage systems, video game consoles, electrical energy storage systems or electric toothbrushes.

If the bill becomes law, the parts pairing restrictions would apply to electronics manufactured for the first time and first sold or used in the state after Jan. 1, 2025. 

The bill passed out of the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 25-5 on Feb. 20, then passed out of the House on a 42-13 vote on March 4. It now goes to Gov. Tina Kotek.

If it’s signed into law, Oregon would join New York, California and Minnesota in passing right-to-repair laws in the past few years. There are more than a dozen right-to-repair proposals in play in the U.S. this year. 

Advocacy group Consumer Reports said in a press release that if signed into law, “Oregon would be the first in the nation to prevent parts pairing, and would extend the right to repair phones, tablets, and other digital devices to more than 4 million people.”