Security Products Exemption in California Right to Repair Legislation a Key Trend Nationally

  • Sep 18, 2023

Following final passage of Senate Bill 244 by the state legislature on Sept. 13, 2023, California will become the third and largest U.S. state to adopt “right to repair” legislation broadly applicable to manufacturers of electronic devices. The bill now heads to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for signature.

Due to efforts led by the Security Industry Association (SIA) with support from industry partners, the California bill’s measures specifically exclude alarm and fire protection systems, which cover electronic products provided by security and life safety manufacturers. While such products were not intended to be targeted, the lack of specific exclusions in the measure originally introduced would have put the functional integrity and cybersecurity of security and life safety systems, and the lives of those who depend on them, at risk by forcing manufacturers to make sensitive technical information and other means of compromising systems broadly available. SIA applauds the bill’s author, state Sen. Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), and the California state legislature for acknowledging these concerns and adding provisions early in the legislative process to clearly and thoroughly protect the integrity of these products and the obligations of the industry to its customers.

“Reasonable public policy prevailed in California due to the leadership of Sen. Eggman and the SIA government relations team and industry partners. The message has been clear for some time – right to repair legislation has the potential to create real risks to consumers if applied too broadly,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “With careful deliberation and thoughtful policymaking by California leaders, we hope these concerns will continue to be taken seriously in any jurisdiction considering similar legislation.”

Notably, all states enacting right to repair legislation so far – New York, Minnesota and, with the governor’s potential signature, California – have included provisions that exclude security products.

While SIA is supportive of finding effective ways to extend the life of consumer electronics and reduce electronic waste, the association will continue to work with industry leaders, allied organizations and policymakers across the country to address risks to public safety posed by legislation that does not adequately protect security and life safety systems.

Featured

  • Report: 47 Percent of Security Service Providers Are Not Yet Using AI or Automation Tools

    Trackforce, a provider of security workforce management platforms, today announced the launch of its 2025 Physical Security Operations Benchmark Report, an industry-first study that benchmarks both private security service providers and corporate security teams side by side. Based on a survey of over 300 security professionals across the globe, the report provides a comprehensive look at the state of physical security operations. Read Now

    • Guard Services

  • Identity Governance at the Crossroads of Complexity and Scale

    Modern enterprises are grappling with an increasing number of identities, both human and machine, across an ever-growing number of systems. They must also deal with increased operational demands, including faster onboarding, more scalable models, and tighter security enforcement. Navigating these ever-growing challenges with speed and accuracy requires a new approach to identity governance that is built for the future enterprise. Read Now

  • Eagle Eye Networks Launches AI Camera Gun Detection

    Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, recently introduced Eagle Eye Gun Detection, a new layer of protection for schools and businesses that works with existing security cameras and infrastructure. Eagle Eye Networks is the first to build gun detection into its platform. Read Now

  • Report: AI is Supercharging Old-School Cybercriminal Tactics

    AI isn’t just transforming how we work. It’s reshaping how cybercriminals attack, with threat actors exploiting AI to mass produce malicious code loaders, steal browser credentials and accelerate cloud attacks, according to a new report from Elastic. Read Now

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.