HomeMy WebLinkAboutMaltz, Donna and Kevin
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Donna Maltz <dm1aloha@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, August 31, 2026 10:30 AM
To:Council Testimony; Hustace, James
Subject:URGENT MESSAGE BILL 147
Aloha Council Members,
We are Donna and Kevin Maltz, and we live in North Kohala. I am a constituent of Council Member James
Hustace, and I'm writing because Bill 147, as currently drafted, would cause real harm to families like
mine who have built their lives around responsible, hosted vacation rentals.
I want to be clear: I fully support registration, tax compliance, and accountability for hosted rentals.
Good neighbors should be held to good standards. But the provision that shuts down existing hosted
rentals outright is not accountability — it's an unnecessary loss for people who have followed the rules
from the start.
My stake in this is personal. The ability to rent out my back house is the reason I could afford to buy
property here at all. That income made the mortgage possible. Without it, homeownership in this
community would not have been within reach for me — and I know I am far from alone in that.
Agricultural tourism and hosted rentals keep farmers on their land. For many agricultural landowners
in North Kohala, vacation rental income is what makes it financially viable to keep land in active
agricultural use rather than sell to developers or resorts. This bill threatens that balance. If we want to
protect farmland and keep working families on it, we need policy that supports small, independent
operators — not one that pushes them out in favor of larger resort interests.
This is about keeping Hawai'i, Hawai'i. Our island needs representation that protects local,
independent tourism — the kind rooted in real relationships between hosts and guests — not policy that
quietly favors resort development. Independent hosted rentals keep tourism dollars circulating through
local families rather than corporate ownership.
The County's own study supports this. The 2025 Economic Impact Study from Hunden Partners,
commissioned by the County, found that hosted vacation rentals generate close to $1 billion annually in
economic impact islandwide, and that regulations like Bill 147 could cost over 12,000 full-time and
30,000 part-time jobs. The same study found only 4% of owners would convert to long-term rentals if
forced to close — meaning this bill would not meaningfully add to housing supply. It would simply
eliminate income and jobs without solving the problem it claims to address.
In North Kohala specifically, hosted rentals are often the only lodging within reach for families visiting
for reunions, King Kamehameha Day, and community milestones like the Kohala High School centennial.
Removing them pushes visitors — and their spending — an hour away to hotels many can't afford, taking
that revenue out of our community entirely.
A simple fix exists. Grandfather in existing hosted rentals where the host lives on the same Tax Map Key
(TMK), regardless of bedroom count, while applying stricter rules to future development. This mirrors
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how un-hosted short-term rentals were handled and gives long-standing, compliant operators the fair
treatment they've earned.
If this Council's goal is genuine economic stability and support for its constituents, Bill 147 as written
works against that goal. I respectfully ask you to amend it to protect existing hosted rentals and the
families, farms, and communities that depend on them.
Mahalo,
Big Love and Aloha
Give the gift that keeps on giving.
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