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Home My WebLink AboutSchneckenburger, Joe Tsuneda, Kaci From:schneckenburger@comcast.net Sent:Wednesday, November 4, 2026 5:24 PM To:Council Testimony Subject:Bill 147, Draft 3. Aloha, Before you do anything with Bill 147, the County should introduce/pass a bill to delay the implementation of 25-50 for another year. Then both the citizens and government could have a better idea of what the laws will really mean when they take e?ect as they are a lot more than the simple registration we (and the Council) were told. Please vote to amend Bill 147 before thinking about passing it. There are many problems with 147. I will just mention the fees and ﬁnes. If someone is Hawaii County is signiﬁcantly exceeding the speed limit—say by 30 mph—imagine someone driving 65 mph in a 25-mph zone like say, Alii Drive. That would be serious and dangerous. And the ﬁne would be $270. Now imagine someone making an error or missing something on their vacation rental “registration” with the County. Much less risk of injury to others’ life, limb or property. And the ﬁne is $5500 to $10,000. Reduce the egregious and unconscionable ﬁnes before you pass the bill. Most of us in Hawaii County do not have the beneﬁt of making County Council salary and beneﬁts to be able to pay $10,000 ﬁnes. Perhaps even on a Council salary, $10,000 or (or $10,000 per day) might be steep. If you cannot a?ord that, then imagine your taxpayers who are bring strangers into their home to make ends meet can a?ord. Take a few zeros o? the ﬁnes to make them reasonable to your constituents. I suggest one zero o? for everyone and 2 zeros o? if the rule breaker has been paying their GE and TA taxes. Supposedly, the goal of 147 and 25-50 is to register people. Want more to register? Charge reasonable registration fees. Lower the fee to match what Hawaii charges people to register their business--$50 initially and $25 annually. That would be more reasonable. Have all Council members read the Hunden Partners STVR study that we taxpayers paid for last year? It should be required reading for all Council members perhaps with a group discussion about it. Long before the start of 25-50 and 147 you should read and discuss at a forum where you interact with the community. Not the Council format where there is no interaction between citizens and councilors and taxpayers are limited to only 2 minutes and cannot ask Council questions or get responses. The jest of the Hunden STVR study it is that “most STVRs are operated by individuals with a personal ﬁnancial stake” and that a simple registration to make sure all are paying GE/TA—not the huge compliance/enforcement and law changes in 25-50 and 147 that Heather is falsely selling as a simple registration. In all of Hawaii County, virtually only Heather and a few Council members want 25-50 and 147. It is time to put on the brakes and say no. Delay and/or repeal 25-50. Keep all the tax revenue coming in from the STVRs and their guests. Stop sending our taxpayer money to the mainland for compliance and enforcement. Joe Schneckenburger Kailua Kona 11/4/2026 1