Proposed short-term rental rules on Big Island met with overwhelming opposition

While the vast majority of testimony was against the proposed measures, there were a few who offered their support, including former Hawaiʻi County Mayor Harry Kim and Hawaiʻi Fire Department Chief Kazuo Todd.

Todd said there are 27,000 short-term rentals on Maui, 52 percent of which are not owned by people in Hawaiʻi. He understands that these types of rentals are good investments, but as fire chief, he has concerns about unhosted rentals in the event of an emergency such as the wildfires that devastated the Valley Isle and destroyed Lāhainā.

People who don’t live here are not aware of how emergency response works and have no relationships with responders, which creates issues when disaster strikes. Todd said new regulations are needed not only for that reason but also are a quality of life issue.

Kim said additional regulations for transient accommodations are needed and the proposed bills only improve existing rules by updating and including clear and consistent definitions, improving operation standards and removing barriers for homeowners to build ʻohana.

The county’s first attempt to regulate short-term rentals was in November 2018 with the passage of Bill 108, which included some recommendations from a March 2018 Hawaiʻi Appleseed report that provided an overview of the impacts of the rentals on the state’s housing market.

That bill, however, only dealt with unhosted rentals, limiting where they could operate and creating a set of operational standards. There was always a plan to revisit the issue, so after about two years, some modifications were needed to address other types of short-term rentals and clarify operation standards while making them easier to follow and more enforceable.

Kimball said during Tuesday’s meeting that transient accommodation rentals are commercial endeavors and those who choose to stay in them have certain expectations. She also clarified that the bills would not ban short-term rental owners on the island from continuing to rent.