Hovis hopes third time's a charm for 'right to repair'

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

State GOP Rep, Barry Hovis of Whitewater's District 146 is making his third attempt since joining the legislature in 2019 to get a "right to repair" bill passed in the General Assembly.

House Bill 698, introduced Jan. 9, gives farmers latitude to fix their tractors and other equipment without recourse to the expense of paying a dealer.

The measure has been given a second reading but has not been assigned to a committee for debate and comment.

Previous attempts to pass such legislation failed to get to the finish line in 2020 and 2022.

"I grew up on a family farm, and we still raise cattle and hay as our main operations, and we used to repair everything," Hovis said last year.

Opposition

• Allen Schaeffer of the Diesel Technology Forum in Frederick, Maryland, told the House Agriculture Policy Committee in the last General Assembly "right to repair" is a bad idea.

"If enacted, (the bill) will facilitate tampering of emissions control systems on farm equipment, a practice in violation of the Clean Air Act. The bill has the potential to make Missouri's air dirtier not cleaner," he said.

• Bill Midkiff of Greenway Equipment in Weiner, Arkansas, said "the bill is not simply a right to repair but a right to modify, allowing potentially unsafe and illegal modifications of equipment."
• Harold Chapman Jr. of Columbia, Missouri's Crown Power and Equipment had a similar issue with Hovis' bill.

"We do fully support our customers having the ability to repair their equipment. We not support unauthorized and unsafe modification," Chapman said, citing safety, liability and emissions concerns.

Response

"We want to make sure what these (opponents) are talking about because a modification can be as simple as changing a seat out," said Hovis in an interview Monday, Feb. 20, with the Southeast Missourian.

"One of the things we added to the bill is, if someone does turn up the horsepower, because I think that's the biggest issue, is the change has to be declared when that farmer gets ready to sell the tractor."

Hovis said John Deere entered into an agreement with the National Farm Bureau in recent months on right to repair.

"I'm trying to go through that national agreement and discover what it actually includes and what it doesn't," said Hovis.

Hovis' measure does not have a co-sponsor.

The 102nd General Assembly is due to adjourn Tuesday, May 30.