Right to Repair Passes the House, 58-38

Rep. Chris Corry, House Republicans double-down on TechNet’s small business smear campaign

State Director Patrick Connor reports from Olympia on the small-business agenda for the legislative and political week ending March 4

Small Business Day at the Capitol, March 16

NFIB’s annual Small Business Day at the Capitol will be held March 16. Click here for additional information or to register. Sponsorships are still available. Contact Stacy Jenkins at (360) 870-7749 or [email protected] for details.

Guest speakers include:

Sen. Shelly Short – Senate Republican Floor Leader
Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber – House Republican Floor Leader
Sen. Karen Keiser – Senate Labor & Commerce Committee chair
Sen. Curtis King – Senate Labor & Commerce Committee ranking member

The Legislature

This legislative update is coming to you much like floor sessions ended much of last week … very late. Legislators worked until at least 10 p.m. beginning on Tuesday, February 18. Thursday’s House floor session ended at 1:30 a.m. Friday, only to be outdone by Saturday’s House floor session ending 2:20 a.m. Sunday.

Both chambers will continue spending long hours passing their own bills in advance of the Wednesday, March 8, House of Origin cut-off deadline, then they will be back to committee hearings starting Thursday to consider bills from the opposite chamber.

Last Monday, February 27, NFIB sent letters to the House and Senate listing our priority bills that were either in the chamber’s Rules Committee or already eligible for a floor vote. Those letters are attached.

Right to Repair

The House approved HB 1392, Right to Repair, 58-38, Saturday afternoon, following a lengthy debate over 10 of 13 primarily anti-small-business amendments introduced by House Republicans. Three of the 13 were withdrawn; one was adopted. A brief overview of the amendments is attached. The full debate can be viewed here.

Several times, independent repair shops – those not part of Apple’s pay-to-play “authorized” repair network – were accused of being incapable, unqualified, or essentially criminal enterprises. Couching their amendments as promoting “consumer protection,” House Republicans were either woefully ill-informed about what their amendments contained and the operation of federal law, particularly as it applies to warranties, or were deliberately misleading in their comments.

For instance, Rep. James Walsh, lead Republican on the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee, claimed consumers might “bollocks up” manufacturer warranty protections by using “unauthorized” repair shops.

An amendment by freshman Rep. Stephanie McClintock, the #2 Republican on the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee that initially heard and approved the bill on party lines, called for the state Department of Licensing to recommend and the Legislature adopt a new regulatory regime requiring special licensing, insurance and/or bonding, and continuing education applicable only to independent repair shops. What she called in debate an “… online, couple hour, working with the manufacture …” training requirement was actually a 25-hour training requirement “per type” of device according to the amendment. If that applies to the 190 or more cellphone and laptop models the eight largest manufacturers produced in 2022, technicians would be required to complete 4,750 hours of training in a 2,080 hour fulltime work year. That’s 2.3 years of fulltime continuing education before a tech could repair those devices.

Not to be outdone, Rep. Chris Corry, lead Republican on the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee and ringleader of the amendment sponsors, again raised the specter of customer “…images, videos, files, whatever … “ being leaked, despite the state Attorney General’s Office and county prosecutors’ association finding NO court records or documented complaints of any independent computer repair shop in our state having done so. He went on to claim that somehow, inexplicably, individuals or independent repair providers could somehow gain access to “… trade secret data, IP data, that could … potentially unlock … or gain access to areas that even the manufacturer may not be able to easily access because of security protocols … [to] potentially compromise hundreds of thousands, if not millions of devices if in the wrong hands.”

The bill is expected to be referred to the Senate Environment, Energy & Technology Committee, which already held a public hearing on the companion Senate bill.

Labor

These bills were explained in last week’s or earlier reports.

HB 1106, Unemployment benefits for voluntary quits. Passed the House, 51-44. NFIB opposes the bill.
HB 1136, Employee expense reimbursement. The bill is on the House 2nd reading calendar making it eligible for a vote this week. NFIB supports the bill.
HB 1197, Granting psychologists “attending physician” status for workers compensation PTSD claims. The bill remains in House Rules. NFIB opposes the bill.
HB 1217, Wage complaints. Passed the House, 53-43. NFIB opposes the bill.
HB 1320 Personnel records. Passed the House, 56-40, and was referred to the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee. NFIB opposes the bill.
HB 1491, Searches of worker vehicles. Passed the House, 87-10, and was referred to the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee. NFIB supports the bill.
SB 5217, Ergonomics. Passed the Senate, 27-21, and was referred to the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee. An amendment was adopted limiting the bill’s effect on industries that are showing a decrease in musculoskeletal disorder claims. That improves it slightly. However, NFIB still opposes the bill.

Regulatory

HB 1534, Homeowner recovery fund. The bill is still in House Rules. NFIB has deployed an Action Alert. We encourage members to contact their state representatives and ask that the bill be sent to the floor for a vote before the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline. NFIB supports the bill.

Tax & Fiscal

HB 1761 and HJR 4206, Business personal property tax exemption. Both of these are still in House Rules. NFIB has deployed an Action Alert. We encourage members to contact their state representatives and ask that the legislation be sent to the floor for a vote before the 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline. NFIB supports this legislative package.

Past Weekly Reports and Related Information