Maine’s Innovation, Development, Economic Advancement and Business Committee (IDEA) voted to gut last November’s right to repair referendum by reporting out L.D. 1911, a bill that strips the “right to repair” law of its most critical consumer protections. Despite more than 84% of Maine voters supporting the right of automobile owners to fix their cars where they choose, the IDEA committee voted to effectively take that right away, and force Mainers to take our cars to the dealerships for repairs.

It’s shocking that a group of elected politicians would take such an aggressive stand against their constituents. Even more shocking is the false information that was used to convince committee members to vote this way – information concocted by the big auto manufacturers and D.C. lobbyists, and echoed by the IDEA committee’s two ranking members.

Rep. Amanda Collamore, the amendment sponsor, and Rep. Tiffany Roberts are leading the IDEA committee’s efforts against the right to repair, and over the last several weeks have been using industry scare tactics to justify a wholesale rollback of the clear will of Maine voters.

Collamore and Roberts have made various allegations about the genesis of the right to repair laws, falsely claiming that the original bill “deliberately avoided legislative review,” despite both representatives personally participating in both a work session and public hearing on the bill.

They’ve claimed that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is warning of data safety implications, when in fact the NHTSA published a letter voicing clear support for right to repair. And they’ve maligned the hundreds of independent Maine repair shops who supported the referendum question, referring to them as a “facade.”

Representatives Collamore and Roberts are simply parroting false auto manufacturer talking points. But their efforts have created a real threat to the independent auto repair industry in Maine, and now threaten to drive repair costs up for Maine consumers across the state. The U.S Government Accountability Office recently released the findings of an investigation that showed a right to repair rollback would hurt rural and low-income car owners the most.

The truth is that opposition to right to repair is virtually non-existent in Maine. In fact, the opposition campaign had only one donor altogether – the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a front group for the big automakers. What’s happening now in the Legislature is a desperate effort by big auto manufacturers to rewrite history and roll back the drubbing they took in November’s election. They’re trying to get legislators to overturn the referendum through a bill that rewrites the law.

If it passes, this bill will cause serious harm to Maine consumers, workers, and small businesses. On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Mainers who voted for their right to repair last November, and the nearly 10,000 Maine workers in the independent auto repair industry, we urge members of the Maine Legislature to vote no on L.D. 1911, and stand up for the rights of their constituents.

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