How enforceable is this? John Deere could say no, we're not going to provide any of these to Colorado since they are an Illinois company. Colorado would have to go after John Deere but.. who would be the focal point of that enforcement? John Deere retailers?
It's possible they might just pull out of Colorado... I don't see how Colorado could enforce this against a company HQ'd in Illinois.
I don't know anything about Colorado state law, but it sounds like the intent was to piggyback off of whatever existing enforcement capability the state has, instead of trying to invent something new.
> It's possible they might just pull out of Colorado
I think this might be suicide for them. For one thing, it would be a "mask off" moment for unconvinced observers and it might lead to snowballing negative public sentiment against them, which would accelerate right-to-repair movements in other states. Also, they can only pull out of so many states before it's no longer a viable move on their part. It's like Starbucks closing locations that unionize: locations can keep unionizing forever, but Starbucks can't keep closing stores forever.
Pulling out entirely is one possible answer, but something less than that (like advertising and servicing without selling directly) could be enough to bring a company within the state's jurisdiction. The Supreme Court decided a similar case a couple years ago, Ford Motor Co. v. Montana. In that case Ford was selling in-state, but hadn't sold those particular vehicles there.
A comparison is the purchase of a vehicle. In 21 states, the manufacture of a vehicle can sell directly to the consumer. In the rest of the states, the law says that a manufacture is for bidden from selling directly to consumers. Yet people buy cars and bring them across state lines, all the time, whether they purchased it from the manufacturer or a dealer. If the point of sale occurs outside of Colorado, and John Deere has no corporate presents in Colorado, then I don't see how this is applicable.
I think the thats the win, even if incremental, is it extends beyond that. Its unlikely every tractor manufacturer will pull out of a market like that.
It also creates a visible precedent for other states. I am hopeful that this first step may provide headway for other states (IE California) to do this.
Or even changing options like the passenger seat seatbelt alarm (I often have heavy boxes or a dog jumping in my passenger seat so get this alarm a lot). You can ask a dealership to uncheck the box for that alarm, but you are entirely at their mercy and many will refuse.
