Earlier this week the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 23-1011, otherwise known as the Right to Repair bill for agricultural equipment. This is the first bill specific to agriculture to pass a legislature and is expected to be signed by the Governor of Colorado in the coming days.
From introduction to adoption, the bill was amended well over a dozen times and had an irregular path to passage. The bill went to a joint conference committee made up of members from both chambers to reconcile amendments before being sent back to each chamber for concurrence. All that to say the final bill language voted on has not been made public and it is not known at this time what the exact final bill language is. If you are wondering how it’s possible for a legislature to pass something that hasn’t been released publicly, so are we.
Without knowing the final bill language, we can say that many of the amendments addressed dealer concerns. The most important of these related to fixing the price of parts. The original bill introduced required the sale of parts at dealer net cost. That language was watered down through the legislative process, and we have been told the final version does not put a ceiling on the price of parts sold by a dealership.
The bill contains several other provisions worth noting. The enactment date has been pushed out to January 1, 2025 supposedly. The bill also contained language that nullifies the law if a federal Right to Repair bill is passed, and prior to going into the conference committee there was language waiving the law if a memorandum of understanding is in force.
This bill was politically driven by democratic legislators in Colorado. However, the bill itself did have a republican co-sponsor and several key votes at the committee level were cast by republicans in support of the bill despite overwhelming testimony in opposition. One committee hearing on the bill that NAEDA participated in lasted over 7 hours with 42 dealers testifying against it. Regardless of that, the bill moved forward.
The final language of the bill must be made public when the Governor signs it. At that time, we will provide a more detailed breakdown of the bill. For now, we wanted to make sure you were aware the legislation has passed, and we will be looking at next steps to protect dealers from this misguided and unnecessary legislation.