Denver - Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed bills into law, continuing to support Colorado’s hardworking farmers and ranchers.
“I am proud to sign this important bipartisan legislation that saves hardworking farmers and ranchers time and money on repairs, and supports Colorado’s thriving agriculture industry,” Governor Polis said. “This is a common-sense bipartisan bill to help people avoid unnecessary delays from equipment repairs. Farmers and ranchers can lose precious weeks and months when equipment repairs are stalled due to long turnaround times by manufacturers and dealers. This bill will change that. I thank the bill sponsors Representatives Brianna Titone, Ron Weinberg, Senators Nick Hinrichsen and Janice Marchman for sending this bill to my desk, and I thank our Department of Ag for supporting this legislation. Rep. Titone in particular has been an excellent leader in this space for a number of years and I appreciate her work on right to repair.”
Here is a summary of the bill:
HB23-1011
Consumer Right To Repair Agricultural Equipment
Concerning a requirement that an agricultural equipment manufacturer facilitate the repair of its equipment by providing certain other persons with the resources needed to repair the manufacturer's agricultural equipment.
SESSION: 2023 Regular Session
SUBJECTS: Agriculture Business & Economic Development
BILL SUMMARY
Usually, an owner of agricultural equipment must seek diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services of the equipment from the agricultural equipment manufacturer (manufacturer).
Starting January 1, 2024, the bill requires a manufacturer to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or similar information (resources), to independent repair providers and owners of the manufacturer's agricultural equipment to allow an independent repair provider or owner to conduct diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services on the owner's agricultural equipment.
The bill folds agricultural equipment into the existing consumer right-to-repair statutes, which statutes provide the following:
- A manufacturer's failure to comply with the requirement to provide resources is a deceptive trade practice;
- In complying with the requirement to provide resources, a manufacturer need not divulge any trade secrets to independent repair providers and owners;
- Any new contractual provision or other arrangement that a manufacturer enters into that would remove or limit the manufacturer's obligation to provide resources to independent repair providers and owners is void and unenforceable ; and
- An independent repair provider or owner is not authorized to make modifications to agricultural equipment that permanently deactivate any safety notification system or bring the equipment out of compliance with safety or emissions laws or to engage in any conduct that would evade emissions, copyright, trademark, or patent laws.
(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)