Florida Senate - 2021                                     SB 374
       
       
        
       By Senator Bradley
       
       
       
       
       
       5-00459-21                                             2021374__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the fair repair of agricultural
    3         equipment; providing a short title; creating s.
    4         686.35, F.S.; defining terms; requiring original
    5         equipment manufacturers of agricultural equipment to
    6         provide certain manufacturing, diagnostic, and repair
    7         information to independent repair providers and
    8         owners; prohibiting the original equipment
    9         manufacturers from excluding certain information
   10         concerning security-related functions; providing
   11         construction and applicability; providing civil
   12         liability; providing an effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Agricultural
   17  Equipment Fair Repair Act.”
   18         Section 2. Section 686.35, Florida Statutes, is created to
   19  read:
   20         686.35Fair repair of agricultural equipment.—
   21         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   22         (a)“Authorized repair provider” means an individual or an
   23  entity that has an arrangement for a definite or indefinite
   24  period in which an original equipment manufacturer grants to a
   25  separate individual or entity a license to use a trade name,
   26  service mark, or related characteristic for the purpose of
   27  offering repair services under the name of the original
   28  equipment manufacturer.
   29         (b)“Embedded software” means any programmable instructions
   30  provided on firmware delivered with the equipment for the
   31  purpose of equipment operation, including all relevant patches
   32  and fixes made by the original equipment manufacturer for this
   33  purpose. The term includes, but is not limited to, a basic
   34  internal operating system, an internal operating system, a
   35  machine code, an assembly code, a robot code, or a microcode.
   36         (c)“Equipment” means digital electronic equipment, or a
   37  part for such equipment, which is originally manufactured for
   38  farm equipment, including combines, tractors, implements, self
   39  propelled equipment, and related attachments and implements, and
   40  that is manufactured for distribution and sale in this state.
   41         (d)“Fair and reasonable terms” means an equitable price in
   42  light of relevant factors, including, but not limited to:
   43         1.The net cost to the authorized repair provider for
   44  similar information obtained from an original equipment
   45  manufacturer, excluding any discounts, rebates, or other
   46  incentive programs;
   47         2.The cost to the original equipment manufacturer for
   48  preparing and distributing the information, excluding any
   49  research and development costs incurred in designing and
   50  implementing, upgrading, or altering the product, but including
   51  amortized capital costs for the preparation and distribution of
   52  the information;
   53         3.The price charged by other original equipment
   54  manufacturers for similar information;
   55         4.The price charged by original equipment manufacturers
   56  for similar information before the launch of original equipment
   57  manufacturer websites;
   58         5.The ability of aftermarket technicians or shops to
   59  afford the information;
   60         6.The means by which the information is distributed;
   61         7.The extent to which the information is used, including
   62  the number of users and the frequency, duration, and volume of
   63  use; and
   64         8.Inflation.
   65         (e)“Firmware” means a software program or set of
   66  instructions programmed on a hardware device to allow the device
   67  to communicate with other computer hardware.
   68         (f)“Independent repair provider” means a person or
   69  business operating in this state which is not affiliated with an
   70  original equipment manufacturer or an original equipment
   71  manufacturer’s authorized repair provider and which is engaged
   72  in the diagnosis, service, maintenance, or repair of equipment.
   73  However, an original equipment manufacturer meets the definition
   74  of an independent repair provider when such original equipment
   75  manufacturer engages in the diagnosis, service, maintenance, or
   76  repair of equipment that is not affiliated with the original
   77  equipment manufacturer.
   78         (g)“Motor vehicle” means any vehicle that is designed for
   79  transporting persons or property on a street or highway and
   80  certified by the motor vehicle manufacturer under all applicable
   81  federal safety and emissions standards and requirements for
   82  distribution and sale in the United States. The term does not
   83  include a motorcycle or a recreational vehicle or manufactured
   84  home equipped for habitation.
   85         (h)“Motor vehicle dealer” means a person or business that,
   86  in the ordinary course of business, is engaged in the selling or
   87  leasing of new motor vehicles to a person or business pursuant
   88  to a franchise agreement; is engaged in the diagnosis, service,
   89  maintenance, or repair of motor vehicles or motor vehicle
   90  engines pursuant to such franchise agreement; and has obtained a
   91  license under s. 320.27.
   92         (i)“Motor vehicle manufacturer” means a person or business
   93  engaged in the manufacturing or assembling of new motor
   94  vehicles.
   95         (j)“Original equipment manufacturer” means a person or
   96  business that, in the ordinary course of business, is engaged in
   97  the selling or leasing of new equipment to a person or business
   98  and is engaged in the diagnosis, service, maintenance, or repair
   99  of such equipment.
  100         (k)“Owner” means a person or business that owns or leases
  101  a digital electronic product purchased or used in this state.
  102         (l)“Part” means a replacement part, either new or used,
  103  which the original equipment manufacturer makes available to the
  104  authorized repair provider for purposes of effecting repair.
  105         (m)“Trade secret” means anything tangible or intangible or
  106  electronically stored or kept which constitutes, represents,
  107  evidences, or records intellectual property, including secret or
  108  confidentially held designs, processes, procedures, formulas,
  109  inventions, or improvements or secret or confidentially held
  110  scientific, technical, merchandising, production, financial,
  111  business, or management information. The term also includes any
  112  other trade secret as defined in 18 U.S.C. 1839, as such section
  113  existed on January 1, 2020.
  114         (2)For equipment sold and used in this state, the original
  115  equipment manufacturer shall make available diagnostic and
  116  repair documentation, including repair technical updates and
  117  updates and corrections to embedded software, to any independent
  118  repair provider or owner of equipment manufactured by such
  119  original equipment manufacturer. The information must be made
  120  available for no charge or provided in the same manner as the
  121  original equipment manufacturer makes such diagnostic and repair
  122  documentation available to an authorized repair provider.
  123  Thereafter, the original equipment manufacturer is not
  124  responsible for the content and functionality of such
  125  aftermarket diagnostic tools, diagnostics, or service
  126  information systems.
  127         (3)Original equipment manufactured by the original
  128  equipment manufacturer which is sold or used in this state to
  129  provide security-related functions may not exclude diagnostic,
  130  service, and repair documentation that is necessary to reset a
  131  security-related electronic function from information provided
  132  to an owner or independent repair provider. If such
  133  documentation is excluded under this section, the documentation
  134  necessary to reset an immobilizer system or a security-related
  135  electronic module must be obtained by an owner or independent
  136  repair provider through the appropriate secure data release
  137  systems.
  138         (4)This section may not be construed to do any of the
  139  following:
  140         (a)Require an original equipment manufacturer to divulge a
  141  trade secret.
  142         (b)Abrogate, interfere with, contradict, or alter the
  143  terms of an agreement executed and in force between an
  144  authorized repair provider and an original equipment
  145  manufacturer, including, but not limited to, the performance or
  146  provision of warranty or recall repair work by an authorized
  147  repair provider on behalf of an original equipment manufacturer
  148  pursuant to such authorized repair agreement, except that any
  149  provision in such an authorized repair agreement which purports
  150  to waive, avoid, restrict, or limit an original equipment
  151  manufacturer’s compliance with this section is void and
  152  unenforceable.
  153         (c)Require original equipment manufacturers or authorized
  154  repair providers to provide an owner or independent repair
  155  provider access to nondiagnostic and repair documentation
  156  provided by an original equipment manufacturer to an authorized
  157  repair provider pursuant to the terms of an authorized repair
  158  agreement.
  159         (5)This section does not apply to motor vehicle
  160  manufacturers, any product or service of a motor vehicle
  161  manufacturer, or motor vehicle dealers.
  162         (6)Any original equipment manufacturer found in violation
  163  of this section is liable to a civil penalty of not more than
  164  $500 for each violation.
  165         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.