HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-16 Bill 121 Mackenzie Chase From: Mackenzie Chase(ELCA)
To: LPCtestimony
Subject: Expedia Group Testimony Bill 121
Date: Tuesday,April 16,2024 12:21:29 PM
Attachments: imaoe001.pno
041624-EG Comments Hawaii County Bill 121.pdf
April 16, 2024
Commissioner Barbara De Franco
Chair of the Leeward Planning Commission
Re: Bill 121
Dear Commissioner DeFranco and members of the Leeward Planning Commission:
On behalf of Expedia Group, a family of brands that includes Expedia.com, Hotels.com, and short-
term rental leader Vrbo, I am writing to share comments on Bill 121, item #7 on the agenda.
Expedia Group welcomes balanced regulation and management of short-term rentals and has
worked with municipalities around the world to craft, enact, and enforce laws to regulate vacation
rentals. As the Leeward Planning Commission evaluates the proposed law, we respectfully request a
few amendments.
Hosting Platforms
Hawaii counties' power to regulate platforms under state and federal law is uncertain. Regardless,
Expedia Group has developed a strong model that has worked well in other counties, and we can
bring the tools we have developed to Hawaii County. We entered voluntary agreements,
Memorandums of Understanding (MOUS), with Kauai County, Maui County, and the City and County
of Honolulu to support compliance with county laws and regulations, share information, and foster
collaboration between Expedia Group and county governments. The best way to ensure industry
uninformity is to pass a law that imports the provisions of existing county-platform MOUS.
Hosting Platform Reporting
The hosting platform reporting requirements in Section 25-4-17.2(a) include information that could
conflict with federal laws. Requiring a report of names of the persons responsible for each listing,
the length of stay for each listing, and the fee charged for each stay could run afoul of the federal
Stored Communications Act and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Requiring the
physical address and tax map key(TMK) number (Section 25-4-17(a)(2)) is redundant since both
allow the County to identify the location of the property.
As an alternative, we would suggest amending the text to require a report of the URL and TMK
number associated with listings in Hawaii County. This would allow County officials to review
information and to compare listings against the County's information for registered properties. This
is the exact same information reported to other Hawaii counties under MOUS, which has allowed
other counties like Kauai to successfully enforce its short-term rental laws and largely eliminate
illegal rentals.
Hosting Platform Registration and Revocation
Section 25-4-17.1(c) would allow the director to "cancel a hosting platform registration for cause,
including any violation of this Code."This is overbroad and means that a hosting platform's
registration could be revoked for a single disturbance of quiet hours. Revocation of a registration
should be a last resort for the County after several attempts to bring a platform into compliance
have failed. We recommend changing this to read: "may cancel a hosting platform registration after
the platform has received three or more final judgments against it for one or more violations of
Division 1.2 of this chapter."
Amend the Definition of"Transient"
We support the Planning Director's recommendation to maintain the definition of"transient" or
"transients" to mean "any visitor or person who rents or uses lodging or dwelling unit, portion
thereof,for thirty consecutive days or less and whose permanent address for legal purposes is not
the transient accommodation rental."The Hawai'i County Planning Department as well as hosting
platforms already have systems and operations in place to utilize the 30 days or less definition and
changing the definition of"transient" to be a longer period of time creates a significant
administrative burden. It could also create legal challenges from rental properties since a property
could have been legally rented for periods of 30 days or more but would be newly required to
register as a transient accomodation rental (TAR) to continue the practice and is ineligible to do so.
This is similar to the issue in the recent Hawai'i Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance v. City and County
of Honolulu lawsuit in which the Hawai'i Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance (HILSTRA) prevailed.
We also recommend changing the exemptions in the definition of"transient" in Chapter 25-1-5 to
match the exemptions for transient accommodations tax in the Hawai'i Revised Statutes in Chapter
237D-3,which rely on the characteristics of a structure rather than a person, e.g., exempting a
student dormitory rather than lodging occupied by a student. Under the current draft, any full-time
students, military personnel, or temporary health-care employees would not be subject to transient
accommodations regulations, even if the stay was personal and recreational.These exemptions offer
limited benefit as there is no way for most booking services and hosting platforms to confirm the
identity of a traveler to show that they qualify for exemptions and could create incentives for
scofflaws to cater to individuals inaccurately claiming to qualify for exemptions.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments. We look forward to working with Hawai'i
County as it contemplates Bill 121. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is any additional
information we can provide.
Mahalo,
Mackenzie Chase
Regional Manager, Hawai'i
Expedia Group
MaChasePExpediaGroup.com
Mackenzie Chase
Regional Government Affairs Manager
Expedia Group
OTM M: (206) 437-7167
1 1 1 1 Expedia Group Way West
Seattle, WA 98119
machase@expediaaroup.com
oxpodia group-
April
odic 16, 2024
Commissioner Barbara DeFranco
Chair of the Leeward Planning Commission
Re: Bill 121
Dear Commissioner DeFranco and members of the Leeward Planning Commission:
On behalf of Expedia Group, a family of brands that includes Expedia.com, Hotels.com, and short-term
rental leader Vrbo, I am writing to share comments on Bill 121, item #7 on the agenda.
Expedia Group welcomes balanced regulation and management of short-term rentals and has worked
with municipalities around the world to craft, enact, and enforce laws to regulate vacation rentals.As the
Leeward Planning Commission evaluates the proposed law, we respectfully request a few amendments.
Hosting Platforms
Hawai'i counties' power to regulate platforms under state and federal law is uncertain. Regardless,
Expedia Group has developed a strong model that has worked well in other counties, and we can bring
the tools we have developed to Hawai'i County.We entered voluntary agreements, Memorandums of
Understanding(MOUS), with Kaua'i County, Maui County, and the City and County of Honolulu to support
compliance with county laws and regulations, share information, and foster collaboration between
Expedia Group and county governments.The best way to ensure industry uninformity is to pass a law that
imports the provisions of existing county-platform MOUS.
Hosting Platform Reporting
The hosting platform reporting requirements in Section 25-4-17.2(a) include information that could
conflict with federal laws. Requiring a report of names of the persons responsible for each listing, the
length of stay for each listing, and the fee charged for each stay could run afoul of the federal Stored
Communications Act and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Requiring the physical address
and tax map key(TMK) number(Section 25-4-17(a)(2)) is redundant since both allow the County to
identify the location of the property.
As an alternative, we would suggest amending the text to require a report of the URL and TMK number
associated with listings in Hawai'i County.This would allow County officials to review information and to
compare listings against the County's information for registered properties. This is the exact same
information reported to other Hawai'i counties under MOUS, which has allowed other counties like Kaua'i
to successfully enforce its short-term rental laws and largely eliminate illegal rentals.
Hosting Platform Registration and Revocation
Section 25-4-17.1(c) would allow the director to "cancel a hosting platform registration for cause,
including any violation of this Code." This is overbroad and means that a hosting platform's registration
0
1 1 1 1 Expedia Group Way West I Seattle,WA, 98119 1 USA I T+1 206 481 72001 F+1 206 481 7240
expediagroup.com
could be revoked for a single disturbance of quiet hours. Revocation of a registration should be a last
resort for the County after several attempts to bring a platform into compliance have failed. We
recommend changing this to read: "may cancel a hosting platform registration after the platform has
received three or more final judgments against it for one or more violations of Division 1.2 of this
chapter."
Amend the Definition of"Transient"
We support the Planning Director's recommendation to maintain the definition of"transient" or
"transients" to mean "any visitor or person who rents or uses lodging or dwelling unit, portion thereof,
for thirty consecutive days or less and whose permanent address for legal purposes is not the transient
accommodation rental." The Hawai'i County Planning Department as well as hosting platforms already
have systems and operations in place to utilize the 30 days or less definition and changing the definition
of"transient" to be a longer period of time creates a significant administrative burden. It could also
create legal challenges from rental properties since a property could have been legally rented for periods
of 30 days or more but would be newly required to register as a transient accomodation rental (TAR) to
continue the practice and is ineligible to do so. This is similar to the issue in the recent Hawai'i Legal
Short-Term Rental Alliance v. City and County of Honolulu lawsuit in which the Hawai'i Legal Short-Term
Rental Alliance (HILSTRA) prevailed.
We also recommend changing the exemptions in the definition of"transient" in Chapter 25-1-5 to match
the exemptions for transient accommodations tax in the Hawai'i Revised Statutes in Chapter 237D-3,
which rely on the characteristics of a structure rather than a person, e.g., exempting a student dormitory
rather than lodging occupied by a student. Under the current draft, any full-time students, military
personnel, or temporary health-care employees would not be subject to transient accommodations
regulations, even if the stay was personal and recreational.These exemptions offer limited benefit as
there is no way for most booking services and hosting platforms to confirm the identity of a traveler to
show that they qualify for exemptions and could create incentives for scofflaws to cater to individuals
inaccurately claiming to qualify for exemptions.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.We look forward to working with Hawai'i County as
it contemplates Bill 121. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is any additional information we
can provide.
Mahalo,
Mackenzie Chase
Regional Manager, Hawai'i
Expedia Group
MaChase@ExpediaGroup.com
O
1 1 1 1 Expedia Group Way West I Seattle,WA, 98119 I USA I T+1 206 481 72001 F+1 206 481 7240
expediagroup.com