Yesterday the Kansas House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources held an informational hearing on Right to Repair for farm equipment. There is currently no bill that has been introduced so the hearing was intended as more of a fact-finding mission on the issue.
Proponents testifying in support of Right to Repair included a representative of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union out of Colorado and a member of the Kansas Farmers Union. Their comments focused mostly on the Colorado legislation and the hackneyed, false statements about the need for legislation to make available tools, documentation and diagnostics to fix equipment.
The committee also heard from three equipment dealers, NAEDA and the Kansas Chamber on why we support customer self-repair, but oppose legislation. The comments from dealers were much more articulate and in-depth about what is currently available and accessible to owners and independent repair shops. There was an emphasis placed on the MOUs and how they are working as a private sector solution for this issue making legislation unnecessary. There was also discussion of how legislation poses serious unintended consequences to the dealer business model and risks to the safety of employees and customers from modification. The comments were “eye-opening” to committee members who started to understand the complexity of this issue.
The House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources meets only one more time this session and it was clear from their comments that no bill will be forthcoming this session. However, this was an important hearing to head off any attempts by proponents to get a bill started in Kansas next year. A special thanks to Craig Murray from Heritage Tractor, Bryndon Meinhardt from KanEquip, and Jeremy Ostrander from AgriVision Equipment for testifying and representing our industry well in the hearing.
If you have any questions about this hearing or other legislative issues in Kansas, please contact me directly at ewareham@naeda.com.
