HomeMy WebLinkAboutRoss, Madeline
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Madeline Ross <rentals@bigislandlastresort.com>
Sent:Sunday, August 30, 2026 4:16 PM
To:Council Testimony; Hustace, James
Subject:Oppose Bill 147
Aloha Council Members,
My name is Madeline Ross. I am a wedding planner and property manager, who has lived in North Kohala
for the past 7 years. I am currently a constituent of Council Member James Hustace.
I am writing to register my opposition to Bill 147 as currently written. While I support provisions in the bill
that provide for hosted rentals to register with the County, pay taxes and follow good neighbor policies, I
am very concerned about other provisions that prohibit existing hosted vacation rentals from continuing
to fully operate and provide jobs, housing and other benefits to myself and the community.
As a property manager, I work directly with homeowners, cleaners, and guests across North Kohala, and
I see firsthand how hosted vacation rentals function as a small but essential part of the local economy.
The cleaners, maintenance workers, and property staff I coordinate with rely on this work, and the
property owners I support built and operate their homes under rules that have been in place for decades.
North Kohala has very limited places where visitors to the island can stay. That includes visitors for
family reunions, the Kohala Reunions and events like King Kamehameha Day and the recent 100-year
anniversary of Kohala High School. When we have friends and family come visit, they are able to stay at
vacation rental properties within 10 minutes of our house. Otherwise, they would have to stay at hotels
(assuming they could afford them) almost an hour away.
THIS BILL HARMS GOOD, LONG TIME NEIGHBORS
I am very concerned that Bill 147 prohibits existing hosted vacation rentals with more than five bedrooms
from operating as hosted rentals. Even worse, it fails to grandfather in currently operating hosted rentals
who have complied with all the rules when built, paid their taxes, provided jobs and otherwise have been
great neighbors.
Further, under the old rules that have been in place for decades, there was no limit on the number of
bedrooms that a hosted rental could rent. So, these property owners built their properties with that
expectation in mind. Now, shortly after Hurricane Lala devastated huge parts of our island, this Council
is having a meeting not about Hurricane relief, but instead on a bill that would further suppress
economic activity by putting existing hosted rentals that exceed an arbitrary number of bedrooms out of
business.
THE DATA SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
This Council should be aware of the economic impact of its decision since it spent almost $100,000 on
an Economic Impact Study by Hunden Partners in 2025. This study confirms what I know from managing
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properties on island every day – hosted vacation rentals serve an important economic lifeline for the
island.
Indeed, on page 33, the study that this Council paid for states that existing hosted vacation rentals “are
vital to the livelihood of thousands of families on Hawaii Island. Many Kama ʻ āina rely on \[this\] market for
employment or assistance in affording their homes.” According to page 10 of this Council’s study, the
economic impact of the hosted rentals is nearly $1 billion a year. To put that in simpler terms, this
Council’s study on that same page suggests that regulation, like Bill 147, would cost the island “more
than 12,000 full-time jobs and more than 30,000 part-time jobs.”
And, for what? Not to solve the housing crisis. First, in order to have housing, people need jobs. Second,
many people rely on hosted rentals with more than five bedrooms to be able to live here. Third, this
regulation will not increase affordable housing on island. Your study on page 60 states “only 4% of
current Vacation Rental owners and operators said they definitely would convert their property to a long-
term rentals. . . This suggests that the likelihood of STVRs converting to long-term housing for residents is
minimal.”
Further, this legislation is ambiguous as to where the host must live on a hosted rental property.
Currently, regulations allow for hosts to live on property, but not in the same building. This is good since
according to the Economic Study, 93% of vacation rentals on island do not have a host living in the same
building as the visitors. As someone who manages these arrangements day to day, I can confirm this is
common practice and works well. This bill is not clear about how this would continue to work because
the bill refers to a host living at the “same building site as the TVR.” The term “building site” is left
undefined. It should be changed to Tax Map Key to make it clear that a host that lives on the same site as
the rental property is a host.
THERE IS A CLEAR COMPROMISE
There is an easy fix for this legislation. Grandfather in everyone who is currently operating a hosted
vacation rental when the host lives on the TMK regardless of whether they have five or seven bedrooms.
This will allow these hosted rentals to continue to provide jobs and services to the community while
allowing the County to restrict the number of bedrooms in future hosted rentals. This is what happened
when the County originally regulated un-hosted short-term rentals. The hosted rentals – the vast majority
of which are owned and operated by folks living on island – deserve no less.
In closing, I believe that everyone that owns or operates a hosted short-term vacation rental should
register, pay their taxes and be a good neighbor. We can accomplish that without loss of current jobs and
loss of places for quality visitors to the island to stay by grandfathering current hosted rentals in under
the prior regulations.
Mahalo,
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Madeline Ross
Manager, The Last Resort
303.859.0131
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