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To the Editor:
Some activists are pushing for the Pennsylvania legislature to put in place a โright to repairโ law, claiming it would make it easier for people to get their smart phones and electronic devices fixed. But whatโs not mentioned is that this kind of law would harm our stateโs multi-billion-dollar farming industry by inserting big government where it doesnโt belong.
This kind of far-reaching โright to repairโ legislation would risk the safety, durability and environmental sustainability of farm equipment. Itโs also unnecessary, given that the only repairs that equipment owners canโt do themselves are related to government emissions and safety standards. In other words, tractor and combine owners have the same repair rights as truck and car owners.
Efforts to pass โright to repairโ bills are being led by groups whose main goal is to gain access to proprietary information and if they succeed, it will be at the expense of our stateโs tens of thousands of farms. This policy would undermine the significant investment โ hundreds of thousands of dollars on average โ in equipment and machinery by opening the door to illegal modifications and tampering. This ultimately will negatively impact trade-in value and expose farmers to shortened equipment life.
People want to fix their own equipment, which I couldnโt agree with more. But broad, far-reaching legislation that will negatively hurt a critical industry in our state and more importantly wonโt solve any problem is not the right kind of action for our state legislature to take.
Sincerely,
Mike Firestine
Womelsdorf, PA
Mike Firestine is a farmer and a banker at Fulton Bank. He is a member of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Farm-City Committee.