{"id":495,"date":"2021-05-03T14:39:31","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T18:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/who-doesnt-want-right-repair-companies-worth-over-10-trillion\/"},"modified":"2022-08-06T06:48:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-06T10:48:01","slug":"who-doesnt-want-the-right-to-repair-companies-worth-over-10-trillion","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/georgia\/articles\/who-doesnt-want-the-right-to-repair-companies-worth-over-10-trillion\/","title":{"rendered":"Who doesn\u2019t want the Right to Repair? Companies worth over $10 trillion"},"featured_media":11479,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[171],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[5,7,8,9,12,13,16,18,23,24,25,28,29,2,32,33,34,36,38,40,41,42,46,50,52],"topic_tax":[146],"class_list":["post-495","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[215,146],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":171,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2,5,7,8,9,12,13,16,18,23,24,25,28,29,32,33,34,36,38,40,41,42,46,50,52],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":146}},"featured_image":11479,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"If we want the Right to Repair, more people need to stand up to the companies that lobby against it.","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":null,"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":1,"people":"12779"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

It\u2019s not every day the former governor of your state shows up to testify against your bill. But that\u2019s what happened in Colorado<\/a> earlier this month at the state\u2019s Right to Repair bill hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were already working to counter lobbying from Google and large trade associations representing Apple and Microsoft,\u201d said CoPIRG Advocate Allison Conwell, who organized supporters of the bill. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty incredible the array of people coming out to support the bill \u2014 local computer manufacturers, repair shops, disability advocates, Zero Waste advocates and more. But it\u2019s pretty clear that this is going to take a big effort when you look at who\u2019s across the table.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Facing powerful opponents is par for the course in our campaign to pass Right to Repair legislation in states across the country. And while both public and legislative support for this issue continues to grow, our opposition is digging in their heels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Washington state Rep. Mia Gregerson introduced a Right to Repair bill, HB1212, in 2021, she knew it had faced roadblocks in the past. In 2019, then-state Rep. Jeff Morris said that he heard that Microsoft offered to pay more in taxes<\/a> to fund STEM education in the state if Right to Repair never went to a floor vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRight to Repair is a bipartisan, pro-small business, pro-environment, pro-people bill,\u201d Gregerson told me. \u201cSince there is so much to gain from this bill, I\u2019m okay with a little opposition from tech companies and trade associations. We\u2019re fighting the good fight.\u201d Unfortunately, HB1212 stalled in committee, but not for a lack of support from Washingtonians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goliath times 5\u00a0<\/h4>\n

Power and money has influence in politics, and while the Right to Repair should not be a political issue, power and money affect it as well. Right to Repair is about fixing our stuff and using it for longer \u2014 a mission antithetical to the business model of those who make electronics and want to sell millions of them, or push consumers into high-priced repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s David versus Goliath times five: the tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook all have recently lobbied on Right to Repair legislation to differing extents, as you can see in the chart below. Facebook listed the New York bill as something they lobbied on in 2018, but has been quieter than the other four.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Companies that contribute to lobbying efforts against Right to Repair are cumulatively worth about $10.7 trillion. They include Tesla, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Lilly Inc., T-Mobile, Medtronic, Caterpillar, John Deere, General Electric, Philips, eBay, plus the big five. To reach this estimate, we totaled up the estimated market cap for each company, or the estimated total value of all their traded shares.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While publicly, most of the opposition comes from generic sounding trade groups such as TechNet and Repair Done Right Coalition (which doesn\u2019t list its members), sometimes we hear directly from the global brands. For example, in 2017, an Apple representative told Nebraskan lawmakers that Right to Repair reforms would turn the state into a \u201cmecca for hackers<\/a>.\u201d A John Deere executive argued in a magazine interview<\/a> that if farmers had the Right to Repair, they would tamper with the emission settings, a violation of EPA laws, and wreak environmental disaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes money speaks louder than words, and electronics manufacturers spend a lot of it fighting Right to Repair laws. For example, General Electric, which makes medical equipment and appliances, spent more than $200,000 total in the spring<\/a> and fall<\/a> of 2018 to defeat the Right to Repair bill in New York state \u2014 and that\u2019s only one year, one state, and one company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to eating into service revenues by bringing more competition to repair markets, Right to Repair poses a challenge to the business model based on disposability: buy, throw away, and buy again. About two-thirds<\/a> of Apple\u2019s revenue comes from new iPhone sales, and Wall Street judges the company\u2019s worth on those numbers.<\/p>\n

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