On May 15, 2025, the Maine Joint Committee on Housing and Economic Development voted to allow the full Maine legislature to consider an amendment that would narrow the scope of the state’s Right to Repair law. The law, which was passed by voter referendum in 2023 and became effective January 5, 2025, requires vehicles using a telematics system sold in that state be equipped with an interoperable, standardized, and owner-authorized access platform across all of the manufacturer’s makes and models. The statute requires this platform to make mechanical data from vehicles accessible to vehicle owners and independent repair facilities, and calls for the Maine Attorney General to designate an “independent entity” to establish standards for and administer access to vehicle-generated data. Significant changes could be made to the law if the amendment is passed.
Proposed Amendments
The Housing and Economic Development committee considered several proposed amendments to the 2023 law, ranging from an outright repeal, to narrowing the law’s scope: LD 1227 sought to remove the requirement to equip vehicles with a standardized data access platform, while LD 1394 sought to exclude electric vehicles from the telematics system requirement. The committee ultimately voted to send LD 1228, “An Act to Clarify Certain Terms in the Automotive Right to Repair Laws,” to the full legislature, which would amend the law to add a definitions section, eliminate the “independent entity” to establish standards and administer access to vehicle-generate data, and to modify telematics language to largely mirror language proposed by OEMs and repairers in pending federal legislation.
The Working Group’s Recommendations
The proposed amendments come on the heels of the Automotive Right to Repair Working Group’s February 24, 2025 report to the Maine legislature, recommending that the independent entity initially operate as a commission serving a purely advisory role: monitoring the law’s implementation, informally resolving disputes between manufacturers and repair facilities, referring cases to the Maine Attorney general if resolution is impossible, designating technical experts to assist the Maine Attorney General in enforcing the law, and making annual reports describing its activities. The Working Group further recommended that the commission not “maintain, provide access to, or otherwise exercise control over vehicle data.” Instead, it recommended that vehicle data be directly accessible to owners and independent repair facilities, with OEM’s bearing the responsibility for any potential privacy or cyber-security issues in making the data available.
Automotive Right to Repair Laws in Other States
While Massachusetts and Maine are the only states to have enacted automotive-specific right to repair laws, Hawaii, Kansas, and Maryland are currently considering similar legislation requiring manufacturers of vehicles with telematics systems to install open data platforms. Meanwhile, bipartisan federal legislation similar to the Massachusetts and Maine laws was proposed in February 2025, while OEMs and certain repair organizations countered with the Safety as First Emphasis (SAFE) Repair Act, which largely tracks a 2023 agreement by certain independent repairers and automakers designed to provide access to the same diagnostic and repair information that OEMs make available to authorized dealer networks.
#Maine #Legislature #Amendment #Repair #Law #States #Ponder #Legislation