House Subcommittee to Hear from Small Business Owners on Right to Repair 

The House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural, and Rural Business Development will hold a hearing on “Right to Repair and What it Means for Entrepreneurs” on Wednesday.

Members of Congress are expected to hear testimony from the head of a Right-to-Repair advocacy group as well as several small business owners. The gavel should bring the hearing to order at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

House Subcommittee to Hear from Small Business Owners on Right to Repair

You can watch the hearing here live:

The witnesses that will be testifying are:

• Gay Gordon-Byrne – Executive Director Digital Right to Repair Coalition, North River, NY
• Brian Clark – Co-Owner, The iGuys’ Tech Shop, LLC, Conway, NH
• Jim Gerritsen – Marketing Manager, Wood Prairie Family Farm, Bridgewater, ME
• Ken Taylor – President, Ohio Machinery Co., Broadview Heights, OH                                                                                                                      *Testifying on behalf of the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) in his capacity as 2022 Chairman

The Committee Members are:

Democrat Members:

• Jared Golden (D-ME), Chairman
• Troy Carter (D-LA)
• Scott Peters (D-CA)

Republican Members:

• Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Ranking Republican Member
• Roger Williams (R-TX)
• Pete Stauber (R-MN)
• Maria Salazar (R-FL)
• Mike Flood (R-NE)

The Right to Repair Movement

The Right to Repair argument stems from the fact that manufacturers are reluctant to relinquish control of the maintenance and repair of their products. In most cases, manufacturers would offer a system where a limited number of companies or dealers are authorized to fix their products.

However, independent repair service providers and third-party businesses contend that they can’t properly offer after-sales support to customers as these certified services force customers to incur lengthy waiting times and high costs. This has led some to push for legislation to compel manufacturers to relinquish their control over the repair market and offer consumers more options in terms of how they repair their products.

This article, "House Subcommittee to Hear from Small Business Owners on Right to Repair " was first published on Small Business Trends