Bipartisan Lawmaker Duo Explains Flaws in R2R Law in Maine

The Democratic Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business in the Maine House of Representatives and a Republican colleague co-authored an op-ed in the Portland Press Herald.

In their piece, Reps. Tiffany Roberts (D-District 149) and Amanda Collamore (R-District 68) explains that the right to repair law recently enacted in Maine is redundant since repair data access for independent repairers is already protected thanks to the agreement that the Automotive Service Association and Society of Collision Repair Specialists reached with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation in July 2023. More alarmingly, Maine's law could lead to cybersecurity vulnerabilities. “Unless the identified problems around telematics data access in the ballot question are addressed, automakers will have no pathway to comply with the law while still fulfilling their federal obligations on cybersecurity,” the legislators wrote.

Collamore has introduced an amendment that would address issues with the current law. Her amendment would eliminate the legal requirement for a standardized repair information platform in the new law, which automakers argue would allow for bidirectional access to vehicles with insufficient cybersecurity protections.