Senate Bill 2005

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FARMERS, RANCHERS AND INDEPENDENT REPAIR PROVIDERS WITH THE RIGHT TO REPAIR AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT, TO DEFINE RELEVANT TERMS, TO OUTLINE SITUATIONS WHERE THE RIGHT TO REPAIR MAY BE DENIED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known as the "Right to Repair Act."

SECTION 2. (1) For the purpose of this section:

(a) "Agricultural equipment" means equipment that is primarily designated for the use in a farm or ranch operation. This includes:

(i) a tractor, trailer, combine, sprayer, tillage implement, baler and other equipment used to plant, cultivate or harvest agricultural products or to ranch; and

(ii) attachments to and repair parts for equipment described in subparagraph (a)(i) of this section.

Agricultural equipment does not include:

(iii) self-propelling vehicles designed primarily for the transportation of individuals or property on a street or highway; and

(iv) any aircraft used in an agricultural aircraft operation, such as:

(1) dispensing any pesticides or other substance intended for plant nourishment, soil treatment, propagation of plant life or pest control; or

(2) engaging in dispensing activities directly affecting agriculture, horticulture or forest preservation, but not including the dispensing of live insects.

(v) any equipment designed primarily for irrigation purposes.

(b) "Authorized repair provider" means a person that is unaffiliated with a manufacturer other than through an arrangement with the manufacturer, whether for a definite or an indefinite period, in which the manufacturer, for the purpose of offering to provide services to an equipment owner regarding the owner's equipment or a part, grants the person:

(i) a license to use a trade name, service mark or other proprietary identifier; or

(ii) authorization under any other arrangement to act on behalf of the manufacturer.

Authorized repair provider also includes a manufacturer that offers to provide services to an owner of the manufacture's equipment regarding the owner's equipment, or a part, if the manufacturer does not have any arrangement with an unaffiliated person.

(c) "Data" means information transmitted or compiled with the consent of the owner, that arises from the operation of an owner's agricultural equipment or its parts.

(d) "Documentation" means a manual, diagram, schematic diagram, reporting output, service code description, security codes or passwords, or similar types of guidance or information, whether in an electronic or tangible format, that a manufacturer provides to an authorized repair provider to assist the authorized repair provider with services performed on the manufacturer's equipment or a part of the equipment.

(e) "Embedding software for agricultural equipment" means any programable instructions provided on firmware that is delivered with, or loaded to, the agricultural equipment, with respect to agricultural equipment operation.

(f) "Embedded software for agricultural equipment" includes all relevant patches and fixes that the manufacture makes, including, but not limited to, items described as "basic internal operating systems", "internal operating systems", "machine code", "assembly code", "root code" and "microcode".

(g) "Equipment" means agricultural equipment as described in subsection (1)(a).

(h) "Equipment dealer" means any person, partnership, corporation, association or other form of business enterprise that is primarily engaged in the retail sale of agricultural equipment.

(i) "Fair and reasonable terms and costs" means that the contracts and terms of sale for agricultural equipment and parts of agricultural equipment shall not impose an undue burden on an owner or independent repair provider. Terms and costs to consider include, but are not limited to:

(i) net cost incurred;

(ii) any discounts, rebates or incentives offered;

(iii) fairness of the proposed price and terms to both parties;

(iv) the quality of the agricultural equipment or part;

(v) practicality of delivery of the agricultural equipment or part; and

(vi) any other relevant factors.

(2) Independent repair providers or owners are authorized to:

(a) perform or facilitate the repair of agricultural equipment, unless the repair would require breaching one of the exceptions listed in subsection (4);

(b) make any modification to agricultural equipment that deactivates a safety notification system, except as necessary to provide services;

(c) access any function of a tool that enables the independent repair provider or owner to change the settings for a piece of agricultural equipment in a manner that brings the equipment out of compliance with any applicable federal, state or local safety or emissions laws, except as necessary to provide services;

(d) evade emissions, copyright, trademark, or patten laws; or

(e) engage in any other unauthorized equipment modification activities.

(3) (a) With respect to agricultural equipment and parts of agricultural equipment, equipment sold to an owner or independent repair provider must be made with fair and reasonable terms and costs. Agricultural equipment, or parts of agricultural equipment, shall be sold to an owner or independent repair provider under equitable terms. Owners and independent repair providers shall have access to, or receipt of, any part pertaining to agricultural equipment in a manner that:

(i) is fair to both parties in light of any agreed-upon conditions, the promised quality and timeliness of the delivery; or

(ii) does not discourage or disincentivize repairs to be made by an owner or an independent repair provider.

(b) The terms and conditions of sale and service are considered fair if they do not impose on an owner or independent repair provider any:

(i) substantial obligation to use, or any restriction on the use of, a part, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware or tool, including a condition that the owner or independent repair provider become an authorized repair provider of the manufacturer; or

(ii) require that a part, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware or a tool be registered, paired with or approved by the manufacturer or an authorized provider, before the part, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware or tool is operational.

(c) For the purpose of providing services for equipment in this state, an original equipment manufacture shall, with fair and reasonable terms and costs, make available to an independent repair provider or owner of the manufacturer's equipment, any documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools, or, with owner authorization, data that is intended for use with the equipment or any part of the equipment, including updates to any documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools, or, with owner authorization, data.

(d) With respect to agricultural equipment that contains an electronic security lock or other security-related function, a manufacturer shall, with fair and reasonable terms and costs, make available to independent repair providers and owners any documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools, or, with owner authorization, data, needed to reset the lock or function when disabled in the course of providing services. The manufacturer may make the documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools, or, with owner authorization, data, available to independent repair providers and owners through appropriate security release systems.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to:

(a) conduct that would require the manufacturer to divulge a trade secret; except that a manufacture shall not refuse to make available to an independent repair provider or owner any documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools, or, with owner authorization, data, necessary to provide services on grounds that the any documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools, or, with owner authorization, data, itself is a trade secret.

(b) a manufacturer may withhold information regarding a component, design, functionality or process of developing a document, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware or tools if the information is a trade secret and the usability of the any documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware or tools for the purpose of providing services is not diminished.

(5) Neither an original equipment manufacture or an equipment dealer is liable for faulty or otherwise improper repairs provided by independent repair providers or owners, including faulty or otherwise improper repairs that cause:

(a) damage to the agricultural equipment that occurs during such repairs;

(b) an inability to use, or reduced functionality of, a piece of agricultural equipment resulting from the faulty or otherwise improper repair.

(6) (a) A manufacturer that provides documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools or data to an independent repair provider or owner, in compliance with this act, is neither liable or responsible to the owner, independent repair provider or any other party, for any action that the independent repair provider, owner or another party takes while using or relying on the documentation, parts, embedded software for agricultural equipment, firmware, tools or data that the manufacturer provided.

(b) An original manufacturer will be liable for damages or harm caused, if the information or equipment provided by the manufacturer was knowingly, intentionally, willfully, recklessly, or negligently erroneous or incomplete, in a manner that would render the provided information ineffective or misleading.

(7) (a) With respect to a contract, arrangement or a renewal of a contract or arrangement, that an original agricultural equipment manufacturer entered into after January 1, 2025, any contract term, provision, agreement or language in the contract or agreement that waives, avoids, restricts or limits the manufacturers obligations as provided in this act, is void and unenforceable.

(b) If an agricultural equipment manufacturer enters into or is covered under a nationwide memorandum of understanding regarding a right to repair agricultural equipment, the memorandum of understanding governing an owner's right to provide services, or to engage the services of an independent repair provider for that manufacturer's brand of agricultural equipment, except that, if compliance with the memorandum understanding would deny the owner any rights afforded to the owner in this act, including any rights to documentation, data, tools or embedded software for agricultural equipment necessary for the diagnosis, maintenance or repair of the owner's agricultural equipment, the owner is entitled to the documentation, data, tools or embedded software for agricultural equipment in accordance with this act. An agricultural equipment manufacturer that enters into a memorandum of understanding is still obligated to meet the requirements established by this act.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.