Maine’s Senate has voted to uphold Gov. Janet Mills’s veto of right to repair changes, legislation supporters say intended to clarify and implement the state’s automotive right-to-repair law.
The bill in question, LD 1228—An Act to Clarify Certain Terms in and to Make Other Changes to the Automotive Right to Repair Laws, was meant to amend the state’s existing automotive right to repair law that voters backed with 84% support in a 2023 ballot initiative requiring auto makers to give independent repair shops access to vehicle diagnostic telematics data. Sponsors and supporters described LD 1228 as a set of unanimous recommendations from a working group to clarify and improve the effectiveness of the right to repair law.
On Jan. 7, Mills vetoed LD 1228, saying she agreed with the working group’s recommendations but objected to a controversial provision added by the Legislature. That provision would have allowed automobile manufacturers more control over how vehicle telemetric data is accessed by independent repair shops, potentially with delays, rather than through a standardized, interoperable system. The auto industry had been pushing for changes that would soften those requirements and extend timelines, but critics and Gov. Mills argued such changes weaken consumer and local repair shop rights.
Mills said that giving manufacturers that control would undermine the will of Maine voters and put independent repair shops at a disadvantage while making repairs more costly for consumers. She added that for independent shops to provide timely diagnosis and repairs, they must have equal access to vehicle data.
Tiffany Roberts, an original sponsor of LD 1228 and candidate for Congress, said the Senate’s vote was “disappointing and revealing.”
“It shows how challenging it can be for a political system, at every level, to keep pace with technology that’s changing how we live, work, and own property,” Roberts said in a release. “This bill was never about scoring political points. It was about doing the hard work of understanding how modern systems actually function, and writing laws that reflect that reality. When technology outpaces understanding, good ideas can stall, even when the intent is right.”
On Jan. 13, the Maine House of Representatives voted to override the governor’s veto with a 96-44 vote, but an override requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. On Jan. 20, the Senate failed to override the veto voting 24-10 to sustain it, so the LD 1228 is essentially dead for now and the existing right to repair law remains unchanged.
After the Senate vote, Mills suggested the Legislature pass a revised bill without the contested data-access language that would adopt the working group’s recommendations without giving manufacturers control over telemetric access.
