2025 SENATE BILL 148

March 21, 2025 - Introduced by Senators Pfaff, Keyeski, Ratcliff, Roys, Hesselbein, Smith, Spreitzer, Larson, Dassler-Alfheim and Wall, cosponsored by Representatives J. Jacobson, Billings, Johnson, Roe, Cruz, Emerson, Goodwin, Miresse, Joers, Phelps, Madison, Stubbs, Clancy, Subeck, Palmeri, McCarville, DeSmidt, Tenorio, Fitzgerald, Brown and Behnke. Referred to Committee on Transportation and Local Government.

SB148,1,2 An Act to create 100.204 of the statutes; relating to: the right to repair agricultural equipment, and providing a penalty.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill requires agricultural equipment manufacturers to upon request make available to agricultural equipment owners and independent service providers any documentation, data, embedded software, firmware, parts, or tools that are intended for use with agricultural equipment, at certain fair costs and fair terms as articulated in the bill. “Equipment” is defined in the bill to include equipment or parts that are designed primarily for use in the operation of a farm or in farm-related activities, including any combine, tractor, sprayer, implement, or attachment used in planting, cultivating, irrigating, harvesting, or ranching, but not including vehicles or self-propelled machines designed primarily for the transportation of persons or property on a street or highway, aircraft, snowmobiles, personal watercraft or motorboats, or equipment or parts used for irrigation purposes. “Data” is defined in the bill to mean information that a manufacturer gathered, transmitted, or compiled that arose from the operation of an owner’s equipment and for which the associated owner has provided consent and authorization for the manufacturer to share.

The bill generally does not require manufacturers to provide documentation, parts, embedded software, firmware, or tools that would require a manufacturer to divulge a trade secret. The bill exempts manufacturers and equipment dealers from liability stemming from an owner’s or independent repair provider’s faulty or otherwise improper repair that causes damage or loss of use of equipment, and exempts manufacturers from liability for an action resulting from a person’s use or reliance upon data that the manufacturer provided to a person.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

SB148,1 Section 1. 100.204 of the statutes is created to read:

SB148,2,3 100.204 Right to repair agricultural equipment. (1) Definitions. In this section:

SB148,2,5 (a) “Authorized repair provider” means a person that is not affiliated with a manufacturer. “Authorized repair provider” includes all of the following:

SB148,2,6 1. A manufacturer, if all of the following apply:

SB148,2,8 a. The manufacturer offers to an owner of the manufacturer’s equipment or part a service related to the owner’s equipment or part.

SB148,2,13 b. The manufacturer does not have an arrangement with a person in which the manufacturer, for the purpose of the person providing a service to an owner regarding the owner’s equipment or a part, grants the person an authorization to act on behalf of the manufacturer or grants the person a license to use a trade name, service mark, or other proprietary identifier.

SB148,2,18 2. A person affiliated with a manufacturer if the affiliation is through an arrangement in which the manufacturer, for the purpose of the person providing a service to an owner regarding the owner’s equipment or a part, grants the person an authorization to act on behalf of the manufacturer or grants the person a license to use a trade name, service mark, or other proprietary identifier.

SB148,3,4 (b) “Data” means information that a manufacturer gathered, transmitted, or compiled that arose from the operation of an owner’s equipment and for which the associated owner has provided consent and authorization for the manufacturer to share.

SB148,3,9 (c) “Documentation” means an electronic or tangible manual, diagram, schematic diagram, reporting output, service code description, security code or password or other similar type of guidance or information that a manufacturer provides to an authorized repair provider to assist the authorized repair provider with a service performed on the manufacturer’s equipment or part.

SB148,3,16 (d) “Embedded software” means programmable instructions provided on firmware delivered with or loaded on an electronic component of equipment or a part for the purpose of restoring or improving operation of the piece of equipment or part. “Embedded software” includes all relevant patches and fixes that the manufacturer makes to equipment or a part for the purpose of restoring or improving the equipment or part, and an internal operating system, machine code, assembly code, root code, and microcode.

SB148,3,23 (e) “Equipment” means equipment or parts that are designed primarily for use in the operation of a farm or in farm-related activities, including any combine, tractor, sprayer, implement, or attachment used in planting, cultivating, irrigating, harvesting, or ranching. “Equipment” does not include vehicles or self-propelled machines designed primarily for the transportation of persons or property on a street or highway, aircraft, snowmobiles, personal watercraft or motorboats, or equipment or parts used for irrigation purposes.

SB148,4,2 (f) “Equipment dealer” means a person engaged in the retail sale of equipment.

SB148,4,7 (g) 1. Except as provided in subds. 2. and 3., “fair costs” means costs assessed under equitable terms and in a manner that is fair to both parties to a transaction in light of any agreed-upon conditions, promised quality, and timeliness of delivery, and in a manner that does not discourage or disincentivize an equipment owner or an independent repair provider from making repairs.

SB148,4,12 2. In regards to documentation, “fair costs” means that the manufacturer provides the documentation, including any relevant updates to the documentation, for free, except that a manufacturer may charge a fee for a printed copy of the documentation, which fee may amount only to the manufacturer’s actual cost to prepare and send the printed documentation.

SB148,4,14 3. In regards to embedded software, “fair costs” means that the manufacturer provides the embedded software in all of the following ways:

SB148,4,16 a. For free, and without requiring authorization, Internet access, or other impediments to use.