HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-06-26 Penny Lee Opposition TestimonyFrom: Penny Lee
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Testimony in opposition to bill 147 - pdf attached
Date: Friday, June 26, 2026 7:23:02 AM
Attachments: Bill147Testimony_pl.pdf
Aloha Leeward Planning Commission,
Please see attached pdf with my testimony in opposition to bill 147. Please be sure to
upload the testimony in color, as the color has meaning.
Thank you,
Penny Lee
Bill 147 creates a monopoly for corporate resorts and large developers
Vacation rentals for Blackstone but not for local families
Yes, those purple spots on the map is where you can have unlimited new vacation rentals, hosted or unhosted, in condos or
single-family homes. Only 2.18% of the island is zoned "urban", which includes commercial, resort, condo and residential
zoning. Most of those properties are not available or affordable to a resident of the Big Island.
On the other hand, if you are a local homeowner, most of us are in the light blue area (Agriculture 45.79%), you have no
rights to a vacation rental and your community will be excluded from the tourism economy. Grandfathering rights aren’t
even mentioned. Maybe the Planning Commission might allow you a special permit (or not) for a hosted B&B, only if you are
a real farmer in a farm dwelling and all your buildings, wastewater systems etc are perfectly permitted. Most people
know that many so called "agricultural" lots are actually small rural residential lots and can never be bona fide farms. So
why is Bill 147 setting farmers up for failure and excluding everybody else from the tourism economy?
Defective “Ag” zoning becomes an economic suppression tool
Most of the 9 districts on this island do not have any of the "permitted" zoning. Only 3 of the 9 districts will have a de
facto monopoly on the tourism economy. Tourism is our main economy. This island is big enough that this will cut off most
tourism spending from the more rural and remote parts of the island. This will starve our local towns, shops, restaurants
and farmers markets, which are already struggling. There are no other jobs or economies in these areas.
This is economic discrimination by exclusionary zoning for the benefit of large corporations. Please oppose this bill.
Big Island - State Land Use Map:
Agricultural (light blue): 45.79%
Conservation (brown): 51.97%
Rural (red): 0.06%
Urban (purple): 2.18%
Bill 147 is destructive to the local economy, and in the background looms Bill 47 with large fines
and liens
There seems to be a lot of pressure on the council members to pass Bill 147 quickly and get it rubber stamped by the
Planning Commission without scrutiny or discussion. This bill will affect all districts and thousands of families and
therefore deserves attention and thorough critical review. This bill and Bill 47 are the worst version of vacation rental
regulation we have seen to date, and I have been following vacation rental regulations on all islands since 2018. Also,
almost nobody has yet grasped all the intended and unintended consequences of these bills.
Bill 121 in 2024 was shelved due to overwhelming opposition by the public. Heather Kimball famously said at a County Planning
Committee hearing, Oct 2nd, 2024: “This amendment puts forth the most restrictive actions we could legally take…”
What happened after that in 2025? Bill 121 came back worse and was split in 2 parts: Part 1, Bill 47 the registration /fines
/enforcement part was passed very quickly with hardly any discussion and no meaningful amendments through the County
Council (see council meeting video records). Testimony was overwhelmingly against the bill (see council testimony records), yet
no input by vacation rental owners was taken into account. Bill 47 was sold as a “simple Registration” which it is not. The
registration is in effect an evidence gathering mission to feed into the enforcement/shutdown following. Bill 47 set up the legal
framework for enforcement, for example screenshots now become prima facie evidence and the vacation rental owner has to
prove otherwise. Bill 47 never went through review by the Planning Commissions because it was strategically placed in Chapter 6
“Businesses”, next to regulation for cemeteries and bike tours.
Bill 47 is now ordinance 25-50 and includes $10,000 fines, automatic liens and the threat of non-judicial foreclosure for
violating the vacation rental regulations. For or a real lived experience from Oahu, see: “Honolulu fines retiree over half a
million dollars for advertising a rental”.
The County Council members who introduced Bill 147, Heather Kimball and Ashley Kierkiewicz, say they want to support local
residents having income from vacation rentals. The Hunden study confirmed there is wide support in the public for locally owned
and operated vacation rentals.
Yet Bill 147 does the exact opposite: The highest barriers to operating a vacation rental are placed on state land use
“Agriculture” which is 46% of the island and 97% of useable land on the island (excluding conservation).
Heather Kimball says the county’s “hands are tied” yet with HRS 205 the State is granting zoning powers to the counties, it
does NOT prescribe the harassment of vacation rentals. The State has repeatedly confirmed “home rule” for individual
counties to regulate vacation rentals as they see fit.
The Hotel industry has been working for about 10 years to bring down their vacation rental competition across all islands, as
they say so themselves in their 2024 testimony to the County Council in support of predecessor Bill 121 :
The Hawaii Hotel Alliance produces anti-vacation rental legislation for council members, snippet from 2024 Hawaii
Hotel Alliance HHA Newsletter, “Hawaii Island TAR Bills” 121, 122, 123 :
The Hawaii Hotel Alliance “has built strong relationships with individual Council members”, snippet from 2024
Hawaii Hotel Alliance HHA Newsletter, “Hawaii Island – property tax rates”:
The Hawaii Hotel Alliance “Legislative Priorities for 2026”, in other words a monopoly for resort zones, snippet
from Sept 2025 Hawaii Hotel Alliance HHA Newsletter:
Hawaii Hotel Alliance celebrating achievements for 2024, snippet from Dec 2024 Hawaii Hotel Alliance HHA
Newsletter