Right-to-repair hits 50 states

iFixit said this week that right-to-repair legislation has now been introduced in all 50 U.S. states, after Wisconsin became the last state to file a bill. The repair advocacy group said the milestone means lawmakers in every state have now considered proposals requiring access to parts, tools and documentation needed to fix products. (ifixit.com) A separate development in federal court gave the issue a second push: a judge in Illinois granted preliminary approval on May 18 to John Deere’s proposed $99 million antitrust settlement with farmers who said the company restricted repairs. (drgnews.com) Together, the two developments show repair fights moving on both legislative and legal tracks. ### How broad is the state-level push now? (ifixit.com) Wisconsin’s bill completed the map, according to iFixit’s May 2026 update and an earlier post by Elizabeth Chamberlain dated February 24, 2025. iFixit said lawmakers in every state in the union have now filed some form of right-to-repair legislation, though that does not mean every state has enacted a law. The group said legislation is active in 24 states this year. Five states — New York, California, Minnesota, Oregon and Colorado — have passed electronics right-to-repair laws, iFixit said. The group said one in five Americans lives in a state that has passed such legislation. Nathan Proctor, senior right-to-repair campaign director at PIRG, said in iFixit’s report that “people just want to fix their stuff.” (ifixit.com) ### What exactly did the John Deere case add? The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved the preliminary settlement on Monday, May 18, in litigation that began with farmer lawsuits filed in 2022, according to DRG News and CourtListener’s docket record. Plaintiffs alleged Deere monopolized the repair market by restricting access to diagnostic software and repair tools for its equipment. (ifixit.com) The court said the proposed agreement appeared fair, reasonable and adequate pending a final hearing later this year. The proposed settlement would create a $99 million fund for eligible farmers who paid authorized dealers for repairs since January 2018, DRG News reported. Deere also agreed to provide farmers access to digital diagnostic and repair tools for large agricultural equipment for the next 10 years. (ifixit.com) Deere said in April that the agreement resolved claims without any admission of wrongdoing. ### Why does a farm-equipment case matter outside agriculture? John Deere’s case centers on tractors and combines, but the core dispute is access: who can service equipment, with what tools, and at what cost. The farmer plaintiffs said Deere’s controls forced them toward authorized dealers. That same question sits at the center of consumer electronics, medical devices and business hardware debates, where buyers increasingly ask whether repairs require the manufacturer’s own channels. (drgnews.com) Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director at Repair.org, said in iFixit’s account that the 50-state filing sweep “proves that Right to Repair is needed everywhere.” Her comment framed the state milestone as evidence that the issue is no longer confined to one industry or one region. (drgnews.com) ### What changes next? Oct. 29, 2026, is the next major date in the Deere litigation, when the Northern District of Illinois is scheduled to hold its final fairness hearing on the proposed settlement. In state legislatures, iFixit said bills remain active in 24 states this year, meaning the next phase will play out in committee rooms, floor votes and governors’ offices rather than in a single national law. (ifixit.com) (drgnews.com)