As Maine right to repair legislation remains pending on Gov. Janet Mills’ desk, proponents and opponents of the bill took to the Portland (Maine) Press-Herald in recent weeks to push Mills to act one way or the other.
Because Mills didn’t sign LD 1228 before the Maine Legislature adjourned in June, under Maine law, she has three days at the start of the next legislative session in January to veto the legislation or it will automatically become law. That puts LD 1228 in limbo for the next five months.
Republican State Rep. Amanda Collamore called for the executive branch to “catch up” after the Maine Legislature passed the legislation in June.
Her op-ed also took aim at the vehicle telematics provisions of existing Maine law. That language is one of the core pieces of Maine’s current repair statute championed by independent repairers and the 84% of Maine’s voters who voted in favor of a November 2023 ballot measure calling for permanent, enforceable right to repair regulations in the state.
“Did you know that current Maine law states that an ‘independent entity,’ with no government oversight, is required to store and give access to all of your vehicle-generated data?” Collamore wrote in a July 15 op-ed. “It’s true. In 2023, Maine voters, misled by predatory advertising from businesses outside our state, voted in the Automotive Right to Repair Law.”
But in a July 19 op-ed, Maine Right to Repair Coalition Director Tommy Hickey and former O’Reilly Auto Parts general counsel Jeff Groves, also a coalition member, sardonically pushed back against that notion.
“According to a recent op-ed…we were all bamboozled by ‘out-of-state interests,’” they wrote. “Right.” Hickey and Groves argued Mills was “right to press pause.”
Collamore wrote that Mainers “didn’t realize” they were voting for creation of an independent entity that would “store all of their telematics data.”
But the November 2023 ballot measure stipulated that all Maine-sold vehicles must have a standardized data platform allowing car owners and — with owner permission — independent repair shops, access to all vehicle mechanical data via mobile application.
Her op-ed also touted LD 1228, which she co-sponsored, as a “thoughtful, forward-looking response to a growing technological and legal issue,” apparently referring to data security and transmission of vehicle telematics data among repair shops, consumers and OEMs.
LD 1228 would repeal the standardized data platform language if enacted.
“Because rural mechanics and ordinary folks who don’t want to be price-gouged by dealerships clearly don’t know what’s best for them,” Hickey and Groves jabbed. “Mainers know what they voted for. They voted for direct access to their own repair information so they could make informed decisions on where to get their car repaired.”
Telematics data is “embedded” on cars, and, in addition to maintenance diagnostics, includes cellphone contacts, the routes and speeds of the consumer’s vehicle and other driver behavior data.
Hickey and Groves distinguished mechanical data — as specified in the November 2023 legislation — from personal data.
“The 2023 Right to Repair law explicitly states that only repair-related data — not personal data like your contacts or driving habits — can be accessed, and only with your consent,” they wrote. “If your mechanic wants to see your tire pressure, diagnostics or error codes, you’re able to authorize them. It becomes an owner-authorized platform, which makes you the gatekeeper of your own repair information.”
As for the reasons that Mills is holding the legislation, one online commenter on the Hickey-Groves op-ed, named “cat,” surmised it may be because “she can suggest changes” if she wants to next session.
Most comments on Collamore’s op-ed were critical of her heavy support for her new legislation.
One commenter on Collamore’s op-ed monikered “JoeOD” criticized Collamore’s language hitting at lack of government oversight in current law. “So ‘gummint’ control is the answer?” JoeOD wrote. “Interesting Republican view.”
“Curiouserandcuriouser” responded to Collamore’s op-ed: “Won’t the legislature just fix this in January? I’m not sure what the emergency is here.”
“Keyser Soze” commented: “Big deal. We’re being surveilled 24/7 anyway. I’d rather be able to take my vehicle to any mechanic I want. Looks like the lobbyists have been hard at work.”
Brian Bradley