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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: New Jersey Becomes the 12th State to Consider Right to Repair Legislation NEW JERSEY WILL PUSH TO MAKE FIXING YOUR GADGETS EASIER. New Jersey assemblyman Paul Moriarty knows that his office is about to get a lot of calls from the tech industry's biggest lobbyists. "I assume it goes something like this—people introduce legislation, the industry hires lobbyists that descend upon the statehouse, they kill the bill," Moriarty told me. "If we're the 12th state, they have a well-oiled machine on how to tackle this, but I'm used to that." Moriarty announced Friday that he's introducing the "Fair Repair Act," a bill that would require electronics manufacturers to sell replacement parts and tools to the general public and independent repair companies. It would also require them to make repair guides publicly available. Moriarty is more or less right about the general cadence to these legislative battles: Tech lobbying killed right to repair legislation in Nebraska and Minnesota, and records show that Apple, IBM, Verizon, and industry trade groups have heavily stepped up their lobbying spending in New York. But Moriarty has some advantages that lawmakers in other states don't have. For one, he's chairman of the assembly's Consumer Affairs Committee, meaning that he has more power to shepherd legislation through the important committee process. He was also heavily involved in an automotive right to repair push in 2012 that was heavily opposed by car manufacturers and dealers and ultimately resulted in a huge win for consumers. "When there's a monopoly on who can fix a device or make repairs, the cost of those repairs is very high" In that case, Massachusetts passed an automotive right-to-repair law. New Jersey was following close behind and was poised to pass similar legislation. Fearing a patchwork of different laws in different states, Moriarty and legislators in other states pushed manufacturers to sign an agreement to honor the Massachusetts law nationwide. In effect, the pressure from New Jersey and several other states turned the Massachusetts law into de-facto nationwide legislation. Although the "memorandum of understanding" is a voluntary agreement and does not have the weight of law behind it, right-to-repair advocates have told me that this would be an ideal outcome for electronics right to repair legislation as well. "I remember meeting with the manufacturers and saying 'We'll pass this—we will have the votes,'" he said. "Rather than having different laws in different states, they thought they might as well cave and get the best agreement they can and we didn't have to pass the law. I think this will happen with electronics as well at some point." Moriarty says his own family has gotten sick of having to take Apple products to the Apple store for repairs and says his office has regularly heard from constituents who feel the same way. He says right to repair legislation will help local repair companies hoping to start repair businesses. "When there's a monopoly on who can fix a device or make repairs, the cost of those repairs is very high," he said. "Anyone who takes an iPhone to an Apple store can attest to that." Poster Comment: On June 1, 2006, Assemblyman Moriarty, along with State Senator Stephen M. Sweeney (D, 3rd legislative district) and fellow Assembly Democrat Jerry Green (D, 22nd legislative district), held a press conference to announce their support for significant cuts to New Jersey state worker salaries and benefits of up to 15%. This effort was proposed to avoid a one-point increase in the state's sales tax designed to cover a multibillion-dollar gap in the state's budget. Significant negative reaction from the state's labor unions resulted primarily because of Sweeney's position as an Ironworkers business agent and treasurer from Gloucester County for Ironworker's Local 399, and also due to his position as the chairman of the Senate Labor committee which controls most labor-related bills, but also because of Moriarty's history as an AFTRA shop steward and stated support of the collective bargaining process.[6](WIKI) Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#2. To: Horse (#0)
This is the way to tackle Climate Change rather than the hokey wealth distribution Carbon Tax promoted by Liberals & Socialists (in Canada). Making appliances, etc., readily repairable reduces energy in manufacture and transport as well as resource procurement. Additionally, sales tax should be reduced on products with standardized interchangeable components so for example a tail light lens/cover on automobile would fit a half dozen or more makes/models.
#3. To: Tatarewicz (#2)
There is no Global Warming. And the last time there was (1000 to 1200 AD), there was abundant crops and prosperity .And the cities near the ocean were never flooded.
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