chair Carlyle members of the committee
thank you for the opportunity to testify
my name is Samantha Kershaw and I'm the
executive director for TechNet Rome here
in Washington in the northwest
respectfully we are testifying in
opposition to Senate bill $57.99 today
we believe this legislation is in search
of a problem that does not exist yeah I
wonder who's been copying whose book
report recently something that's
resonated with me is something that you
heard early on here is this is
legislation in search of a problem can
you guys at least pretend that you're
not reading off of the same piece of
paper consumers in this country already
have a choice when it comes to who
repairs their devices and thousands of
authorized repair facilities compete for
consumers business each day technology
companies have every incentive to ensure
their customers have ample opportunity
to get their products repaired and in
fact our brands depend on being able to
provide superior customer customer
service technology companies must be
able to manage the repaired networks in
order to repair our to provide adequate
training and accountability which leads
to safe and effective repairs the groups
pushing for this in states across the
country stand to profit greatly by
passing this legislation but the reality
is that some of the people that you're
hearing from today greatly seek to
profit off of this legislation being
passed before I get started I think it's
important to address a point that mrs.
Fisher just brought up which is that
there are many people that are seeking
to profit from this legislation and I
agree that it's an important point I
think it's important to look at who paid
to be here today versus who is being
paid to be here today when looking at
who is opposing the legislation and who
is in favor of that legislation this
bothers me and I realized that I
shouldn't take it personally and I
realize that probably a character flaw
that I do take it personally but I do
what's going on here is a paid lobbyist
who probably gets paid a six-figure
salary is telling us that we stand to
greatly profit from this legislation the
people that are paying thousands of
dollars to show up and speak to their
Senators and assembly people are being
told by someone who is paid six figures
to speak to senators and Assembly people
that we're the ones seeking to profit
from the legislative process and that to
me either implies willful manipulation
or
a complete lack of self-knowledge as to
what the job of a lobbyist actually is
now when I show up at these hearings I
am showing up here not because I profit
I'm showing up here because I want there
to be a path to success for the next
generation the same way there was one
for me twelve years ago I had about 200
bucks to my name I was living in a
termite filled apartment when I would
spoke to the landlord about it he would
say what are you Pinocchio they're not
after you referring to the termites not
caring about me because I'm not made of
wood I was not in the greatest place in
life and through being able to solve
customer problems and fix their devices
and recover their data and make them
happy I was able to improve my life
immensely I was able to gain and garner
a sense of purpose with what I was doing
I was able to wake up and go to work and
actually feel good about what I did each
day and not be poor anymore and I really
genuinely want that opportunity to be
available to the next person a few years
from now who's starting where I wish 12
years ago and that's not going to be the
case if every single device is
completely serialized and there's no
access to schematics or parts or data on
how anything works and the reality is
that when you're at the point that I am
with over a million subscribers and a
lot of contacts and twelve years in the
business I have more access to getting
stuff like this then someone who is just
starting out there are many times where
somebody able to show up at the office
and it'll be filled with schematics or
bored views or tools that I never knew
existed and there'll be no return
address on the package and I know that
that's not happening to other people
that don't have a million subscribers or
four to ten million views a month or a
reputation like we do but I want them to
be able to have that same path to
success that I had that's why I spent
$2,000 out-of-pocket booking a
last-minute flight to show up here and
booking a last-minute hotel that's why I
paid out of pocket to go to Nebraska
paid out of pocket to go to Albany to
Tennessee to Boston and to here and
we'll be paying again to out of pocket
to go to Maine on Thursday to lobby
there that's why we I am paying to do
these things because I want there to be
a path to success for new people
entering the business and if a bill like
this doesn't get passed
I'll still have access to
a lot of stuff that this bill would give
people access to it's just the new
people that won't so frankly if I were
one of those doggie dog Hunger Games
economy kind of business people I
wouldn't really want this to be passed
because I'll have access to it anyway so
when someone who's getting paid a
professional salary whose hotel and
plane is all being comped so that they
can show up here and oppose the
legislation has the audacity to say that
the people who were showing up here in
support of their craft of their
customers of their profession are the
people who are seeking to profit from it
it really leaves a sour taste in my
mouth
and it bothers me probably more than it
should station under the guise of
consumer protection tech nets mean
concerned with this bill pertains to
intellectual property we fear that once
a manufacturer loses their control and
ability to repair the devices that they
alone develop and produce their
intellectual property as at enormous
risk and I will provide these comments
to you in written form I'm so much thank
you are you welcome