2024-04-16 Bill 121 Mackenzie Chase

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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.