Please read this if you own a vacation rental anywhere on the Hawaiian Islands as it affects all vacation rental owners in the state of Hawaii.
Aloha
Vacation rental owners need to know:
These two bills just came to the attention of a few vacation rental owners late last night (at the closing of the Kailua Neighborhood Board meeting). Apparently we have today in order to submit as much written testimony as possible and to rally people to attend an 8:30 a.m. hearing Saturday morning.
1. State representative Pono Chongs House Bill (HB) 1603
HB-1603 - Relating to Transient Accomodations
Requires each county to assess the extent of proliferation of illegal bed and breakfast establishments and other illegal transient vacation rentals and create a countywide plan to deal with illegal actiites and report to the legistlature. Bill also requires counties to increase enforcement.
This bill is scheduled for a hearing at 8:30 a.m., FEBRUARY 3 in ROOM 325. ALL TESTIMONY IS DUE IN BY FEBRUARY 02, 007.
2. State Senator Fred Hemmings Senate Bill (SB) 1295
SB1295: relating to Visitor Accomodations. Authorizes the state and counties to determine a finite number of visitor accomodations of all types (hotel rooms, B&B's, TVA's and time shares), to issue a state license and to fine illegally operating rental units. This legislation would not peempt any existing county zoning laws or ordinances regulating the maximum number zoned and allowed by each county. This will stabilize the total number of visitors on the islands at one time and the counties will need to address the carrying capacity for reach county. In no way will this legistlation supercede county rules and regulations and home rule. Operators of legal rental units will see increased demand and productivity since there will be a finite number of accomodations. The laws of supply and demand will work to the advantage of the industry's productivity.
Fax written testimony to: 586-6501 Cover page should include the following, To: House of Rep. Sergeant of Arms, Attention Committee for Tourism and Culture, Vice Chair Tom Brower, HB 1603, Hearing Feb 3, 2007,8:30 AM, Rm 325.
Vacation rental owners/supporters are asked to make an appearance Saturday, Feb. 3 at the Capital building, Rm 325 at 8:30 AM.
Visit the following website for more information on this issue: http://www.kokuacoalition.com/
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aloha from the big island, just one thing...if it was not for all those illegal B&Bs at few oahu locations which never paid their taxes plus caused neighbors of rental owners to complain about with extreme noise and too much traffic, i'd say there would not be such a discussion. we never had this kind of thing happen on the big island and now all the islands and rental owners will get affected. too sad! hope everything will work out in favor of our hawaii rental owners and lovers of vacation rentals. aloha, pua
ReplyDeleteRegarding the comment about noisy partiers being the cause of the problems now facing vacation owners in Hawaii, we have being doing vacation rentals for many years and never once did we have complaints about rowdy parties. However we did hear plenty of reports about wild parties in the big hotels, especially an incident where a hotel on Maui was fined $50,000 for serving liquor to minors, which resulted in the death of a teenage girl, who fell to her death from a balcony.
ReplyDeleteAn overwhelming number of vacation owners maintain an atmosphere of wonderful family holidays, and should not be punished for the irresponsible conduct of the very few. We have police to handle all disturbances be it a hotel or a private residence.
Aloha!
ReplyDeleteA small but vocal group closed my B&B and others for no reason. Some of us have been renting for the past 30 years. No noise, no drugs, nothing. We always paid our taxes. Now they are going State wide. This group began this uproar when we all asked for permitting with reasonable laws. They do not like having to share with tourists. Most of this very small group have money and came here from the mainland bringing with them "an attitude".
They will make complaints about tourists that are not true or exaggerated. They think tourists should only stay in Waikiki. They do not want them on the Kailua Beach for a day and they have gates to keep them out. They do not want weddings on the beach. Some go up and down the beach on weekends asking the tourists where they are staying. Then they turn in the owner of the B&B.
The originator of this issue is the neighborhood board in Kailua, Oahu. There is now a group of concerned citizens now holding meetings to replace them at an election in March.
The most interesting thing is some of this opposition group have used my B&B when they had family visiting.
Angie Larson
Kailua, HI 96734