A Maine working group, tasked with defining the roles of an entity that will oversee right to repair implementation in the state, met for the first time last week. 

In November more than 84% of voters approved a referendum that began as a petition circulated by the Maine Right to Repair Coalition. It requires OEMs to standardize onboard diagnostics and provide remote access to those systems. The law went into effect in January. 

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) has previously state that independent repairers already have the ability to access OEM information needed to repair vehicles in Maine. 

During the working group, Maine Deputy Attorney General Taub explained the referendum also charged the Attorney General with designating an independent entity to “administer access to the vehicle generated data.” 

He said this included the entity having responsibilities such as enforcing compliance and developing standards, policies and protocols. 

“In this past session the legislature considered eliminating the independent entity part of the statute and so there was a bill that was proposed that was going to get rid of the independent entity,” Taub said. “But then there was another bill that was proposed that was going to charge the AG with doing a study group to figure out how to how to develop an independent entity and my assumption is that the folks behind those measures were thinking that we’re going to have one bill that gets rid of the independent entity but then we’re also going to have another bill to talk about how to develop that.” 

However, Taub said the bill to eliminate the entity failed and the bill creating the study group passed. The bill requires the group to include three auto manufacturer and dealership representatives, three independent shops and tool manufacturer representatives, a consumer privacy advocate, and representation from the Maine Attorney General’s office and the Secretary of State’s Office.

“So we were left in a situation where we have sort of one law calling upon us to designate the independent entity and another law calling upon us to have a study group on how to create an independent entity,” Taub said. 

Taub said the Attorney’s General Office decided to start with a work group prior to creating the entity. 

The group’s job will not be to develop standards for access to vehicle data or for deciding privacy policies, he said. He said the group’s role is to figure out how to create the entity that will do those tasks. 

This includes exploring who the entity will be, Taub said. It could be a board with different categories of people invested in the issue, he said. It also could be a state regulatory entity staffed by state employees.

Other questions include where the entity will be house, how will it be funded and how it will enforce authority, Taub said. 

He said the working group is required to submit a report on findings to the legislature by Feb. 28, 2025. 

While a majority of the first meeting discussed logistics, participants did grapple with question a critical raised by a member. Will the entity house data provided by OEMs or will it set standards on how OEMs deliver the information? 

Mark Gallagher, Drummond Woodsum senior consultant and representative for Automotive Right to Repair Coalition, said those who supported the referendum did not intend for the data to be housed by the entity. 

“The intent would be direct access from the manufacturer to the actual owner of the vehicle,” Gallagher said. 

Elizabeth Frazier Pierce Atwood partner and Auto Innovators representative said that as the law reads its unclear. 

“We simply don’t know what role it’s going to play in managing the data,” Frazier said. “Is it housed there? Does it run through there? What are the complexities and intersections between those two things. There’s an open question there for us but it’s good to hear that’s the intent.” 

Taub agreed that he found this section about the independent entity confusing and it could be interpreted in different ways. 

“If we can reach consensus on what the independent entity should be doing then I think we can recommend to the legislature that the language be adjusted to make sure that the intent we’ve all agreed upon or at least that we think is there, be put into law,” Taub said. “Maybe we shouldn’t get tied up into discussions about how the law could be interpreted or not to be interpreted because I think at this point it’s sort of up to us to decide what the best interpretation is and then make sure that is the interpretation that gets followed.” 

Taub proposed the group meet every two to three weeks. It also was decided during the meeting that the group will meet in-person but members may attend remotely if they determine their presence is not practicable. 

It also was decided that the Automotive Right to Repair Coalition, which backed the referendum, will give a presentation about their intent behind the creation of an entity during the next meeting. An automaker representative also will give an overview about telematics during the meeting. 

Representatives from the Right to Repair Coalition and automakers will be asked to provide more technical and detailed explanations during the third meeting, Taub said. 

Dates for the upcoming meetings were not set.

Images

Featured image: Maine State Capitol Building in Augusta, Maine (Credit: pabradyphoto/iStock)