The new year brought new uncertainty for manufacturers of telematics-equipped motor vehicles, with Maine governor Janet Mills on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, exercising her power to veto amendments to the Maine Right to Repair Law adopted by that state’s legislature last summer. With an override unlikely, it appears manufacturers may soon be headed back to federal court in Maine where a constitutional challenge to the law may possibly resume after being placed on hold last summer pending the governor’s review of those amendments.

Maine Legislature Reviews Law After Ballot Initiative Passes

Maine voters in November 2023 voted to approve a ballot initiative enacting a statute to require manufacturers of vehicles that use a “telematics system” to equip those vehicles with an “inter-operable, standardized and owner-authorized access platform” that provides owners and authorized independent repair facilities direct access to “mechanical data” generated by the vehicle. The law also required the Maine Attorney General to designate an “independent entity” to “manage cyber-secure access to motor vehicle-generated data” by issuing rules for telematics platforms. These provisions took effect on January 5, 2025, one year after the effective date of the law.

The Maine Legislature in April 2024 directed the Attorney General to convene a working group to “develop recommendations for legislation to establish an entity to ensure cyber-secure access to motor vehicle-generated data.” That working group delivered its report in February 2025, proposing that the “independent entity” contemplated by the law be reconstituted as a commission responsible for monitoring industry developments, rather than acting as a rulemaking body. The report attached proposed amendments to the law clarifying that vehicles using telematics must be equipped with an “inter-operable and standardized owner-authorization access platform,” and that the required access need only include the ability to receive data and send commands to in-vehicle components for the purpose of maintenance “that the manufacturer makes available to its authorized repair shops.”

Maine lawmakers considered one bill, LD 292, that would have simply adopted the recommendations of the working group without change. In June 2025, however, they ultimately settled on a separate bill, LD 1228, that made substantial additional changes to the Maine Right to Repair Law. As passed, the amendments to the statute replaced the “independent entity” with a Motor Vehicle Right to Repair Commission with no rulemaking authority, and also struck the requirement that manufacturers immediately equip vehicles with an “inter-operable, standardized and owner-authorized access platform” for telematics data. Instead, the law as amended provided an additional 24 months for vehicle manufacturers that enable their dealers to perform diagnostic and repair functions using a telematics system to make available “on fair and reasonable terms” the ability for vehicle owners and their chosen independent repair facilities to do the same.

Governor’s Veto Creates New Uncertainty

Because the Maine legislature adjourned less than 10 days after passing LD 1228, Governor Mills had until three days after the legislature reconvened in January 2026 to decide whether she would veto the legislation. On January 7, 2026, she did exactly that, announcing that LD 1228 “includes a controversial provision that would allow automobile manufacturers to decide how vehicle telemetric data would be accessible to independent automotive repair shops,” and that “with this provision included, LD 1228 would undermine the existing law overwhelmingly approved by Maine voters and harm independent repair shops across the state.” The governor urged the legislature instead to enact LD 292 and adopt the working group’s recommendations without change.

With an override of the governor’s veto unlikely, it appears automakers may return to federal court in Maine, where an industry trade association, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (“Auto Innovators”), in late January 2025 filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Maine Right to Repair Law as unconstitutional. The industry group argued the statute violates the due process rights of manufacturers and is preempted by federal law regulating motor vehicle equipment and safety. Auto Innovators and the Maine Attorney General had requested and obtained a stay of that case pending a decision from the governor on the fate of LD 1228. With that question seemingly resolved, it appears possible that case may soon be getting back underway.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit will hear oral argument on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 in a case challenging the constitutionality of a similar law passed by Massachusetts voters in a 2020 ballot initiative. In February 2025, a Massachusetts federal district court issued a decision rejecting a constitutional challenge by Auto Innovators to that law on essentially the same grounds as those now being argued in Maine. Auto Innovators appealed in July 2025, arguing the district court erred in concluding that the Data Access Law was not preempted by the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act (MVSA), putting “manufacturers on a collision course with the MVSA’s auto safety requirements.” The outcome of this appeal may have a dramatic impact on the course of events in Maine, as well.