NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8492

Senate Bill S8492

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Relates to the sale of digital electronic equipment and providing diagnostic and repair information

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 06, 2024	referred to consumer protection

2023-S8492 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8955
Current Committee:: Senate Consumer Protection
Law Section:: General Business Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §399-nn, Gen Bus L; amd §3, Chap 810 of 2022

2023-S8492 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Modifies what qualifies as an original equipment manufacturer and the manufacture date when hardware must comply with the right to repair law; repeals certain limitations on the right to repair law.

2023-S8492 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8492

SPONSOR: BRESLIN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to the sale of
digital electronic equipment and providing diagnostic and repair infor-
mation; and to amend chapter 810 of the laws of 2022 amending the gener-
al business law relating to the sale of digital electronic equipment and
providing diagnostic and repair information, in relation to the effec-
tiveness thereof

 
PURPOSE OF GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:

To amend the General Business Law, Sale of Digital Electronic Equipment;
Diagnostic and Repair Information, to expand the covered products to
include home appliances, and to make other changes to enhance repair
options for owners of electronic equipment consistent with similar laws
in other states.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

§ 1. Amends § 399-nn (a) by adding to the definition of authorized
repair provider, an Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) that offers
the repair of its own equipment.

Amends § 399-nn (b) to cover digital electronic equipment sold or used
in the state on or after July 1, 2021, and includes products sold to
schools, businesses, local governments, and other methods outside of
retail.

Amends § 399-nn (m) to remove the exclusion of "printed board assem-
blies" from the definition of "parts".

Amends § 399-nn (3)(a) to add "copyrights or patients" to "trade
secrets", as what is not required of OEMs to divulge, except as neces-
sary to comply with repair.

Amends § 399-nn (3) by removing (h) and (i) and renumbering these para-
graphs to add home appliances and to prevent OEMs from limiting sales of
parts to preassembled components rather than individual components.

Amends § 399-nn (6) by making a technical amendment to the repair
provider notification to the equipment owner requirement.

§ 2. Effective date: December 28, 2023.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York was the first state to enact a comprehensive equipment owner
right to repair law (Chapter 810, L.2022 and Chapter 48, L.2023). New
York State's right to repair law is paving the way for other states and
the federal government to adopt similar laws. Since 2022, states such as
Minnesota and California have enacted the right to repair legislation
that contains valuable owner protection language that is missing from
New York's current statute. President Joe Biden, in an Executive Order
issued July 2021, declared his support for making it easier and cheaper
to repair items by preventing manufacturers from barring self-repairs or
third-party repairs of their products. New York should align with the
spirit of the Biden Administration's directive and other states' actions
by enhancing owner protections and extending those protections to owners
of home appliances, as this bill proposes to do for residents in this
state. The bill also seeks to extend coverage to digital product sales
to schools, businesses, and local governments, which were excluded in
the New York law.

The New York law goes into effect December 23, 2023, so passage of this
legislation is timely for our state's owners to enjoy the same benefits
of having more options to repair their electronic devices and appliances
that are/will be available to consumers, businesses, and government
entities and other product owners in other states.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2022 - S.4104-A/A.7006-B - Chapter 810 2023 - S.1320/A.1285 - Chapter 48

 
FISCAL IMPLICATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS CONSIDERABLE SAVINGS
TO NEW YORK STATE AND LOCAL TAXPAYERS.ct.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that section
one of this act shall take effect on the same day and in the same manner
as chapter 810 of the laws of 2022.

2023-S8492 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8492
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 6, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. BRESLIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
 
 AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation  to  the  sale  of
   digital  electronic  equipment  and  providing  diagnostic  and repair
   information; and to amend chapter 810 of the laws of 2022 amending the
   general business law relating to the sale of digital electronic equip-
   ment and providing diagnostic and repair information, in  relation  to
   the effectiveness thereof
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (b), and (m) of subdivision  1,  paragraphs
 (a),  (g),  (h), (i) and (j) of subdivision 3, paragraphs (d) and (e) of
 subdivision 4, and the opening paragraph of  subdivision  6  of  section
 399-nn  of  the  general  business  law,  paragraphs (a), (b) and (m) of
 subdivision 1, paragraphs (a) and (g) of subdivision 3, and the  opening
 paragraph  of  subdivision 6, as amended and paragraphs (h), (i) and (j)
 of subdivision 3, and paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 4, as  added
 by chapter 48 of the laws of 2023, are amended to read as follows:
   (a)  "Authorized  repair provider" means an individual or business who
 has an arrangement with the original equipment manufacturer under  which
 the original equipment manufacturer grants to the individual or business
 a  license to use a trade name, service mark, or other proprietary iden-
 tifier for the purposes of offering the services of  diagnosis,  mainte-
 nance,  or  repair of digital electronic equipment under the name of the
 original equipment manufacturer, or other arrangement with the  original
 equipment  manufacturer to offer such services on behalf of the original
 equipment manufacturer. AN ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT  MANUFACTURER  WHO  OFFERS
 THE  SERVICES  OF  DIAGNOSIS,  MAINTENANCE, OR REPAIR OF ITS OWN DIGITAL
 ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT SHALL BE CONSIDERED AN AUTHORIZED  REPAIR  PROVIDER
 WITH RESPECT TO SUCH EQUIPMENT.
   (b)  "Digital  electronic equipment" or "equipment" means any hardware
 product manufactured for the first time, and first sold or used  in  New
 York  on  or  after July first, two thousand [twenty-three, that depends
 for its functioning, in whole or in part, on digital electronics  embed-

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD13653-02-4
 S. 8492                             2

 ded  in  or  attached to the product] TWENTY-ONE, for which the original
 equipment manufacturer makes available tools, parts,  and  documentation
 either  through  authorized  repair providers, its own employees, or any
 authorized  third-party  providers  ["Digital  electronic  equipment" or
 "equipment" does not include any product sold  under  a  specific  busi-
 ness-to-government or business-to-business contract, which is not other-
 wise offered for sale directly by a retail seller].
   (m) "Part" or "parts" means any replacement part or assembly of parts,
 either new or used, made available by an original equipment manufacturer
 for  purposes  of  effecting  the  services  of maintenance or repair of
 digital electronic equipment manufactured or sold by the original equip-
 ment manufacturer. [Part does not include printed board assemblies  that
 may allow device cloning in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1029 or other
 applicable law.]
   (a) [Nothing] EXCEPT AS NECESSARY TO COMPLY WITH THIS SECTION, NOTHING
 in  this  section  shall  be  construed to require an original equipment
 manufacturer to divulge [any] A trade secret or license any intellectual
 property, INCLUDING COPYRIGHTS OR PATENTS, to any owner  or  independent
 service provider.
   (g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any original
 equipment  manufacturer  or authorized repair provider to make available
 any parts, tools, or documentation required for the  diagnosis,  mainte-
 nance,  or  repair  of any [home appliance that has a digital electronic
 product embedded within it, including, but not  limited  to,  refrigera-
 tors,  ovens, microwaves, air conditioning, heating units, and] security
 devices or alarm systems including any related software and components.
   (h) Nothing in  this  section  shall  prevent  an  original  equipment
 manufacturer  from  establishing  reasonable  training and certification
 programs for  independent  repair  providers,  however,  no  independent
 repair  provider  shall  be  required  to  complete any such training or
 certification program as a condition to be covered by the rights granted
 under this chapter.
   (i) [Nothing in this  section  shall  prevent  an  original  equipment
 manufacturer from offering parts, such as integrated batteries, to inde-
 pendent repair providers or owners pre-assembled with other parts rather
 than  as individual components, where the individual components may pose
 a heightened safety risk if installed improperly.
   (j)] Nothing in this  section  shall  require  an  original  equipment
 manufacturer  to  make available special documentation, tools, and parts
 that would disable or override anti-theft security measures set  by  the
 owner of the equipment without the owner's authorization.
   (d)  OUTSIDE  THE METER commercial and industrial electrical equipment
 [(]including power distribution equipment, [such as  medium/low  voltage
 switchgear and transformers, power control equipment, such as medium/low
 voltage motor control and drives, power quality equipment, such as unin-
 terruptable  power  supplies,  remote  power  panels, power distribution
 units and static/transfer switches)] and any tools, technology,  attach-
 ments,  accessories,  components and repair parts for any of the forego-
 ing.
   (e) an electronic bicycle manufacturer, distributor, importer, retail-
 er or dealer.
   Before repairing  digital  electronic  equipment,  independent  repair
 providers  shall  provide  to  any  customer,  [and] OR publish on their
 website and the place of business, a written notice  that  contains  the
 following information:
 S. 8492                             3
 
   § 2. Section 3 of chapter 810 of the laws of 2022 amending the general
 business  law  relating  to the sale of digital electronic equipment and
 providing diagnostic and repair information, as amended by chapter 48 of
 the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   §  3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
 law and shall apply to digital electronic  equipment,  manufactured  for
 the  first  time, and first sold or used in New York on or after July 1,
 [2023] 2021.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.