Alaska Senate Advances Right-to-Repair Bill for Consumer Electronics

The Alaska Senate adopted a committee substitute Friday for legislation requiring manufacturers to provide repair tools and documentation for consumer electronics. The bill was narrowed from its original broad scope after committee amendments.

Senate Bill 111, sponsored by Senators Dunbar, Kawasaki, and Isol, was introduced Feb. 26, 2025. It requires digital product manufacturers to provide documentation, parts, and tools to independent repair providers and owners. The bill excludes motor vehicles and allows manufacturers to charge reasonable actual costs for physical tools but not digital documentation.

Two committee substitutes were before the Senate on Friday. The Community and Regional Affairs Committee had previously recommended a committee substitute, and the Labor and Commerce Committee had also recommended replacing the bill with its own version. The Senate adopted the Labor and Commerce Committee substitute in lieu of both the original bill and the other committee substitute.

The Labor and Commerce Committee narrowed the bill from covering all electronic equipment to only consumer electronics. Senator Jesse Bjorkman explained the changes Friday, saying the bill was narrowed "from a broad swath of electronic things to only consumer electronics."

Under the revised definition, a digital product means a product that is sold at retail for personal, family, or household use and relies in whole or in part on digital electronics embedded in or attached to the product. The bill now expressly excludes any product sold under a contract between businesses or between a business and a governmental entity.

"Carving out power sports equipment, farm, forestry, construction equipment, and in short, other types of heavy equipment that are no longer covered by the bill," Bjorkman said.

The committee also added language addressing federal preemption concerns and allowed manufacturers to charge reasonable actual costs for producing physical repair tools. The effective date was changed from Jan. 1, 2026, to Jan. 1, 2027. Bjorkman said the change gives manufacturers more time to comply with the new requirements.

The bill prohibits manufacturers from charging independent repair providers higher prices than they charge authorized service providers. It adds violations to the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act.

The bill will advance to third reading on the next legislative calendar.

Bjorkman acknowledged concerns about diesel engines and emissions systems that can be disabled by computer programming. He said he chose to move forward with the narrower consumer electronics bill rather than not advancing any right-to-repair legislation. He said the issue should be addressed at the federal level but is being ignored there, forcing states to act on their own.