For the North American Equipment Dealers Assn. (NAEDA), the focus of the 2024 legislative cycle is on right to repair bills across the country. As of Feb. 22, 46 right to repair bills in 20 jurisdictions have been introduced this year. Of those, 15 are agriculture-specific, while the rest focus on consumer electronics, wheelchairs, motor vehicles, broad based bills and repairability. This is roughly 30 fewer bills than 2023, according to NAEDA Director of Government Affairs Kipp McGuire.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us and some tough fights ahead, but we’re not nearly as steeped in the right to repair fight as we expected at this time,” he says.
The reason McGuire and NAEDA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Eric Wareham are seeing fewer bills in 2024 is because of the distribution of biennial legislatures across states. Texas and Montana, for example, are only in session every other year, while other states have designated years for budget and policy matters, with budget years being shorter 35-day sessions in states such as Oregon, according to Wareham.
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