2024-04-01 PL-CCI-2024-000003 Bill 121 Brian Fredrickson Testimony

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13-Aw x sheet Pa", saga 96779 January 27,2023 (Resubmitted on 04-02-24) Ms. Heather Kimball, Chair Hawaii County Council 25 Aupum Street Hilo,Hawaii 96720 Mr. Dennis Lin, Chair Hawaii County Windward Planning Commission 25 Aupum Street Hilo,Hawaii 96720 Subject: Hawaii County's Flawed Transient Accommodation Rental Ordinance (PL-CCI-2024-000003) Dear Mr,Lin and fellow commissioners, My wife and I were among many participants in the one-way video presentations on Hawaii County's second-generation transient accommodation rental ordinance (TAR)rule. It is our belief that if Hawaii County enacts this ordinance anywhere near its current form,it is destined to end up in a courtroom where taxpayers are once again on the hook to pay for its' defense. Hawaii County lost on the merits in the Rosehill Petition and is clearly aware of what transpired in Honolulu County where a US District Court judge set aside a similar vacation rental ordinance.'None of the legal lessons provided these by decisions seem to be reflected in the language of the new Hawaii County ordinance. Hawaii County's new ordinance claims to regulate transient vacation rentals (TVR)due to professed impacts on neighborhood tranquility, agricultural land,housing availability and affordability, guest safety and local tax revenue.None of these claims are supported by data offered by Hawaii County. What is clear is that parts of the Hawaii County ordinance mimic the nation-wide effort by the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) and their allied groups to promote local TVR ordinances designed to maintain their monopoly control over tourism lodging. A 2016 New York Times article describes how the AHLA fashioned a long-term strategy to use model ordinances and media campaigns to pressure local governments into the adoption of stringent transient vacation rental ordinances.2 Some of the appealing features of the model ordinance to cash strapped local governments were high registration fees and penalties. This model ordinance was pared with a national media and communications strategy. The media firm,+Plus Communications,highlights this relationship with AHLA on their website and how it has successfully promoted TVR ordinances in several large US cities.'Many of the mechanisms in the model AHLA model ordinance are echoed in Hawaii County's second-generation TAR ordinance. These aspects include high fees for registration and annual renewals, excessive safety requirements,large fines, and requirements for disclosure,owner occupancy and near continuous owner availability. Assumptions: Hawaii County's TAR ordinance was introduced as fait accompli from the start. As such,it is likely that it will be adopted with only minor modifications to the ordinance's central provisions.Nevertheless,we join the many property owners on Hawaii Island who think this ordinance is a staggering intrusion into the 1IPage