The Right-to-Repair Map: Which States Have Laws, Which Don't, and What It Means for Your Stuff

Your laptop breaks. You take it to an independent repair shop — the one run by the guy who fixed your last three phones for a fraction of what the manufacturer would charge. He opens it up, identifies a failed capacitor on the motherboard, and then hits a wall: the manufacturer won't sell him the replacement part. It won't provide a schematic showing where the capacitor sits. Its proprietary diagnostic software, which could tell him in thirty seconds whether his diagnosis is right, is licensed only to its own authorized service centers.

You can take it to the manufacturer's repair center — a two-week mail-in process that quotes you $400 for what your repair guy could fix for $60 if he had the part. Or you can buy a new laptop.

This is the repair gap: the distance between what a skilled technician could fix and what manufacturers allow them to. Right-to-repair legislation is an attempt to close it. After decades of advocacy and years of failed federal efforts, the movement has finally started winning — but only in some places, for some products, with exemptions broad enough to drive a tractor through. And for most Americans, the map is still mostly blank.

The States That Have Acted

As of early 2026, a meaningful cluster of states has enacted right-to-repair legislation. The laws vary significantly in scope, enforcement, and ambition.

Colorado: The Agricultural Pioneer

Colorado became the first state to pass right-to-repair legislation when Governor Jared Polis signed HB 22-1032 in April 2022. The law is narrow — it covers only agricultural equipment — but its passage cracked open a door that had been sealed for years.

Under the Colorado law, manufacturers of agricultural equipment must make available to equipment owners and independent repair providers, on fair and reasonable terms, the same diagnostic tools, repair manuals, and replacement parts they provide to their authorized dealers. The law includes penalties of up to $5,000 per violation per day for non-compliance. John Deere, AGCO, and CNH Industrial — the three dominant players in farm equipment — all lobbied against it. It passed anyway.

Colorado's agricultural focus reflected the political calculus of the moment: farmers are a sympathetic constituency, the harms of repair restrictions are concrete and immediate (a tractor stuck in a field during harvest is a visceral argument), and the economic stakes are high enough that farm groups had organized effectively. The law's narrow scope was the price of passage.

New York: The Digital Repair Act

In December 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed S4101-A, the Digital Fair Repair Act — the first law in the country to cover consumer electronics. The law requires original equipment manufacturers to make available, on fair and reasonable terms, the documentation, parts, and tools needed to diagnose, maintain, and repair "digital electronic equipment" — broadly defined as any electronic product primarily intended for personal, family, or household use that weighs under 15 pounds.

The law has significant carve-outs. Motor vehicles are excluded. Medical devices are excluded. Video game consoles were added to the exclusion list late in the legislative process, following intensive lobbying by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Security-sensitive components can be withheld if the manufacturer can demonstrate a specific security risk — a loophole that electronics makers have worked hard to drive their entire product lines through by claiming that any repair access creates security vulnerabilities.

Enforcement falls to the New York Attorney General. No private right of action exists — meaning individual consumers and repair shops cannot sue manufacturers for non-compliance; only the state can. As of early 2026, the AG's office has issued guidance and initiated informal compliance inquiries but has not brought a major enforcement action.

Minnesota: The Strongest Law in the Country

Minnesota's SF 1849, signed by Governor Tim Walz in May 2023, is widely considered the most comprehensive right-to-repair law enacted anywhere in the United States. It covers both consumer electronics and home appliances — extending the principle to refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, and other major household goods that New York's law left untouched.

The Minnesota law requires manufacturers to provide parts, tools, and documentation to both independent repair providers and individual owners at the same price and on the same terms as authorized dealers. It explicitly prohibits manufacturers from using software to prevent repair — a direct shot at the firmware-based restrictions that companies like HP have deployed to block third-party ink and parts. The penalty structure is robust: up to $2,000 per violation, with each device and each day constituting a separate violation.

Manufacturers mounted a fierce lobbying campaign against the bill, warning of security risks, safety hazards, and intellectual property theft. The Minnesota legislature passed it anyway, and it took effect January 1, 2024.

California: Breadth Over Depth

California's SB 244, the Right to Repair Act, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2023 and effective July 1, 2024, takes a different approach. Rather than requiring manufacturers to open their repair ecosystems broadly, it establishes minimum terms for how long parts and documentation must remain available: three years for products sold for $50 to $99.99, and seven years for products sold at $100 or more.

The law covers a wide range of products — consumer electronics, home appliances, and outdoor power equipment — but the time-limited framing means it functions more as a guarantee of medium-term repairability than a permanent open repair ecosystem. A manufacturer can still refuse to sell parts to independent shops for a new product; it just has to make parts available eventually, for at least three to seven years. The law also includes safety and security exemptions similar to New York's.

California's size makes even an imperfect law significant. Manufacturers typically cannot maintain separate production lines for a state representing 14% of US GDP. Compliance with California's law tends to mean de facto compliance in the other 49 states, a dynamic that consumer advocates call the "California effect."

Oregon: Closing the Software Loophole

Oregon's HB 2422, signed in June 2023, was notable for a specific provision: it explicitly prohibits manufacturers from using software or firmware to prevent repair. Where New York and California's laws focused primarily on parts and documentation access, Oregon's bill directly addressed the digital kill-switch problem — the firmware updates that block third-party components, the software locks that refuse to recognize independently-sourced parts, the diagnostic systems that trip warning lights when a non-OEM repair is performed.

The software anti-circumvention provision put Oregon ahead of most states on the technical dimension of repair rights. It's also the provision most difficult to enforce, since distinguishing a "legitimate security update" from a "repair-blocking firmware push" requires technical expertise that most state consumer protection offices don't have on staff.

Massachusetts: The Auto Repair Outlier

Massachusetts has operated under a separate framework for automotive repair since 2012, when voters approved a ballot initiative requiring automakers to make diagnostic data accessible to independent mechanics. A 2020 expansion of the law — also passed by ballot initiative — extended this requirement to telematics data: the wireless data streams that modern vehicles continuously transmit to manufacturers.

Every major automaker promptly sued. A federal judge issued an injunction blocking the telematics portion of the 2020 law while the case proceeded, and the litigation has been grinding through federal courts for years. As of early 2026, the telematics expansion remains enjoined pending appeal — a cautionary tale about the gap between passing a right-to-repair law and having it actually take effect.

The Moving Front: States Where Legislation Is Active

Across the country, right-to-repair bills have been introduced in dozens of state legislatures. The most active fronts as of 2026:

Illinois has introduced consumer electronics repair legislation in multiple consecutive sessions. The bill has passed committee but stalled on the floor, where telecom and electronics industry lobbying has been particularly intense. Illinois's large manufacturing base creates cross-pressures that don't exist in states with fewer industrial interests.

Washington State passed an agricultural right-to-repair law in 2023 following Colorado's lead. Consumer electronics legislation has moved more slowly, with multiple versions debated and amended across sessions. A comprehensive bill covering both electronics and appliances was under active consideration in the 2025-26 session.

Pennsylvania and Michigan have seen agricultural right-to-repair bills introduced with farm bureau support, reflecting the same rural-political-constituency dynamics that made Colorado's law possible. Michigan's position as an automotive manufacturing state has complicated efforts to include motor vehicles.

New York's S5708 — the vehicle subscription ban mentioned in our prior coverage — represents a related but distinct effort: rather than requiring repair access, it would prohibit manufacturers from charging subscription fees for hardware features already physically installed in a vehicle. The bill awaits Governor Hochul's signature and would establish a national precedent if enacted.

The Federal Picture: Long on Rhetoric, Short on Law

At the federal level, right-to-repair has generated significant attention and minimal legislation.

President Biden's July 2021 executive order directed the FTC to address repair restrictions and "make it easier and cheaper to repair items you own." The FTC responded with its "Nixing the Fix" report, a comprehensive documentation of repair restrictions across industries, and committed to more aggressively enforcing existing competition and consumer protection laws against manufacturers that illegally restrict repair access.

The FTC has used this authority selectively. Its actions against John Deere and HP represent the most direct applications of federal consumer protection law to repair restrictions, but these cases proceed through administrative channels and courts over years, not the swift legislative interventions that state laws represent.

Congress has repeatedly introduced the REPAIR Act — the bipartisan Fair Repair Act — which would establish federal right-to-repair standards for consumer electronics, preempting the current state-by-state patchwork. As of early 2026, the bill has never made it to the floor of either chamber for a vote. The consumer electronics industry's lobbying presence in Washington significantly outweighs that of repair advocacy groups, and the bill's prospects in the current Congress are uncertain.

What These Laws Actually Do — and Don't Do

Right-to-repair laws are frequently misunderstood, and the gap between what advocates claim and what enacted laws deliver is worth examining honestly.

What they typically require: Access to parts, at prices that are "fair and reasonable" compared to what authorized dealers pay. Access to repair documentation — manuals, schematics, diagnostic procedures. Access to diagnostic tools and software. Prohibition on software locks that specifically prevent independent repair.

What they typically don't require: That parts be cheap. "Fair and reasonable" is a legal standard that manufacturers have consistently pushed to mean "whatever we charge our authorized dealers" — which can be significantly more than an independent shop can afford while remaining price-competitive. Laws also generally don't require manufacturers to train independent technicians, certify their competence, or cover any liability from third-party repairs gone wrong.

The security exemption problem: Every enacted right-to-repair law includes some version of a security exemption — allowing manufacturers to withhold information that would create "unreasonable security risks." The electronics industry has worked systematically to define every aspect of its products as security-sensitive. Apple has argued that the secure enclave chip, the battery management system, the Face ID module, and the logic board together constitute an integrated security system that cannot be safely disaggregated for independent repair. Under a broad reading of security exemptions, this argument would allow Apple to exempt its entire product line from repair access requirements.

Enforcement is largely theoretical: State attorneys general have limited staff and compete against well-resourced corporate legal teams. The New York Digital Fair Repair Act has been in effect since July 2023 — over two years — without a single major enforcement action. Minnesota's law has similarly produced more compliance guidance than compliance. The laws create rights that are, in practice, largely unenforced.

The Industry Playbook

The consumer electronics and automotive industries have developed a sophisticated, multi-layered strategy for managing right-to-repair legislation. Understanding it helps explain why enacted laws have delivered less than advocates hoped.

Step one: Oppose passage. Industry trade groups pour lobbying resources into defeating bills before they pass, warning of safety hazards, security vulnerabilities, counterfeit parts, and intellectual property theft. This works in most states, most sessions.

Step two: Amend aggressively. When a bill looks likely to pass, shift strategy to amendment. The goal is exemptions — for security-sensitive components, for software, for "safety-critical" systems, for medical devices, for motor vehicles. Each exemption reduces the law's scope. New York's video game console exemption, added at the eleventh hour, is the clearest example.

Step three: Comply minimally. When a law passes unamended, comply with the letter while undermining the spirit. Make parts technically "available" at prices that make independent repair uneconomical. Publish documentation in formats that are technically accessible but practically unusable. Define security exemptions as broadly as possible.

Step four: Litigate. Sue if the law has teeth. The Massachusetts telematics litigation has kept a voter-approved expansion on ice for over five years. Litigation is expensive for state attorneys general and free for companies with large legal departments.

This playbook has been executed effectively enough that Apple, a primary target of right-to-repair advocates, launched its own "Self Service Repair" program in 2022 — allowing individuals to rent official Apple tools and buy official Apple parts for a limited set of repairs. The program's parts are expensive, the tool rental process is cumbersome, and the selection of covered repairs is narrow. But its existence allows Apple to credibly claim it supports consumer repair rights while deflecting the legislative pressure for broader access.

The EU: What Comprehensive Looks Like

The contrast with Europe is instructive.

The EU's Right to Repair Directive, finalized in July 2024 with a member-state implementation deadline of July 31, 2026, takes an approach more aggressive than any US state law. Manufacturers must provide spare parts for at least seven years after a product is discontinued — not just while it's being sold. Software that specifically obstructs independent repair is explicitly prohibited, without the broad security carve-outs that US laws permit. Standardized repairability scores are already required on smartphones and tablets sold in the EU as of June 2025, allowing consumers to compare products on ease of repair the same way they compare battery life. And consumers who choose repair over replacement get their warranty extended by 12 months automatically.

The EU framework is also paired with ecodesign regulations that require manufacturers to design products with minimum repairability standards from the factory — addressing the upstream problem that US right-to-repair laws, which focus on post-sale access, leave entirely untouched.

American consumers have no equivalent. The patchwork of state laws — some covering electronics, some covering appliances, some covering only agriculture, many covering nothing at all — creates a geography of repair rights that depends on your zip code.

What This Means for Your Stuff, Right Now

The practical implications depend on where you live and what you own.

If you're in California, Minnesota, New York, or Oregon, you have some legal right to access parts and documentation for electronics repairs, though enforcement is inconsistent and security exemptions are broad. If a manufacturer refuses to sell you or an independent shop a part for a product covered by your state's law, filing a complaint with your state attorney general's consumer protection division is the most direct avenue. These complaints are low-cost to file and contribute to the enforcement record that AGs use to justify major actions.

If you're in Colorado or Washington, agricultural equipment is covered. Consumer electronics largely aren't.

If you're in any of the roughly 40 states without right-to-repair laws, your options are market-based: patronize companies with good repair track records, choose products with high iFixit repairability scores, and vote with your wallet against manufacturers with the worst restriction records.

Regardless of state, several strategies improve your repair outcomes:

• Check iFixit before you buy. iFixit's repairability scores rate products from 1 to 10 based on how easy they are to open, diagnose, and fix. A score of 8 or above means a skilled independent shop can likely repair it. A score of 2 means plan to replace it.
• Avoid "glued shut" products. Devices with fused screens, glued batteries, and non-standard screws are designed to frustrate repair. This is not an accident. iFixit's teardowns document exactly which manufacturers do this most aggressively.
• Find your local independent repair ecosystem. The Repair Association maintains a directory of right-to-repair advocacy groups by state. Many states have active repair communities, tool libraries, and repair cafes where volunteers help fix electronics for free.
• Document repairs and report non-compliance. If a manufacturer refuses to sell you a part for a product covered by your state's right-to-repair law, document the refusal and report it to your AG. These complaints are the raw material of enforcement.
• Support federal legislation. The REPAIR Act has been reintroduced repeatedly with bipartisan support. It has never come to a floor vote. Contact your representative and ask why.

The right to repair what you own should not depend on which state you happen to live in. A refrigerator in Alabama and a refrigerator in Minnesota are made from the same parts, sold at the same price, and break in the same ways. The difference in your ability to fix them — inexpensively, with an independent technician, without manufacturer permission — is entirely a function of political geography.

That's not an engineering problem. It's a policy problem. And it's one that remains largely unsolved.