Maine governor vetoes automotive right to repair bill
Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill Wednesday that its proponents have said would’ve amended the state’s new “automotive right to repair” law with consumer data privacy in mind.
The House and Senate passed the bill last year. However, in Maine, if legislation isn’t passed by the end of a session, the governor has three days at the beginning of the next session to veto it. If there isn’t a veto, the bill automatically becomes law. The 2026 session began on Wednesday.
In her veto letter, Mills stated that she threw out the bill because she believes it harms local Maine auto repair shops and strays too far from the will of Maine voters expressed through the “right to repair” referendum approved in 2023.
In May, one bill, LD 1228 — “An Act to Clarify Certain Terms in the Automotive Right to Repair Laws,” moved forward out of a package of five introduced this session to amend the new law, which was passed by referendum in 2023.
Mills wrote in her letter that a “controversial provision” included in the bill would allow automakers “to decide how vehicle telemetric data would be accessible to independent automotive repair shops.”
“That access is essential to diagnosing and repairing modern automobiles,” she wrote. “This provision — which was notably not included in the Working Group’s unanimous recommendations — was included at the urging of automobile manufacturers. However, without timely access to vehicle data, independent auto shops are left at a significant competitive disadvantage, and consumers would have fewer choices for automotive service and repair.”
The Maine Joint Committee on Housing and Economic Development’s majority report to amend the Data Law was passed by the legislature in June, 135-12 in the House and 21-14 in the Senate.
Effective Jan. 5, 2025, all automakers were obligated to provide access to vehicle data via a standardized and owner-authorized platform.
The majority report would’ve amended the law to add a definitions section, eliminate the previously proposed “independent entity,” and use telematics language that largely mirrors proposals in the federal Safety as First Emphasis (SAFE) Repair Act championed by automakers and repairers.
“I have heard from hundreds of independent repair shop owners asking that I veto this bill [LD 1228], based on significant concerns about the bill’s language that would restrict independent shops from performing even routine maintenance on modern vehicles. I am sympathetic to their concerns,” Mills wrote.
She encouraged the legislature to enact the Working Group’s unanimous recommendations “without this controversial provision” by voting for pending LD 292 “without delay.”
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators), which represents automakers, responded in a written statement that, “Automakers support right to repair. Always have, always will.”
“We’re disappointed Gov. Mills took this step and vetoed a bipartisan, commonsense law to protect automotive right to repair in Maine,” said Auto Innovators. “Unfortunately, this doesn’t change the facts on the ground. The ballot initiative that passed in 2023 required Maine to establish a procedure so that automakers could transfer vehicle data directly to the government.
“We opposed that approach for important privacy and security reasons. But even a few years after the ballot initiative passed, the government still hasn’t established a procedure or the necessary technology to receive vehicle data that is safe or cyber-secure. It doesn’t exist. The government hasn’t done its part, which makes it impossible for automakers to comply with the law.”
In January 2025, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) filed suit to challenge Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey over the enforcement of the state’s 2023 Data Law because the “independent entity” it calls for doesn’t exist.
The suit was stayed in July pending the 2026 legislative session by mutual agreement of the parties after Mills didn’t sign LD 1228 into law before the end of the session. Judge Lance E. Walker ordered that the parties file a joint status report with the court every 90 days while the stay is in effect.
Images
Featured image credit: Sean Pavone/iStock