Hawaii governor pledges to sign vacation rental regulation bill

HONOLULU (CN) —  A bill that would give Hawaii counties their own authority to regulate short-term rental properties moved one step closer to passing on Wednesday and now awaits a final vote next week.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green promised ahead of the vote at an event at the Hawaii State Capitol Wednesday that he would sign the measure if it lands on his desk.  

“We know the majority of STRs in Hawaii are illegal, owned by non-residents, and contribute to skyrocketing housing costs,” Green wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We support Senate Bill 2919 to empower counties to regulate STRs and potentially phase them out.”

Senate Bill 2919 would allow the individual counties to define zoning ordinances, as well as “amortize or phase out transient accommodations uses in residential or agricultural zoned areas.”

The measure passed out of a joint House-Senate committee Wednesday afternoon, clearing the way for final votes before heading to the full House and Senate in the following week.

Lahaina Strong, a Maui group supporting the rebuilding of Lahaina, has pushed for the bill and is confident that the bill will clear its final votes.

"While the governor didn’t step up and drop the hammer like he said, we feel it is now his duty to follow through on this short term rental issue for not only Lahaina but for Hawaii," Jordan Ruidas, a representative of the group, said, referencing Green's previous threat to outright ban short-term rentals via emergency proclamation.

"Maui County Councilmembers Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Tamara Paltin have been trying to phase out short-term rentals in our county for quite awhile now. We are confident that Maui County is ready to take this legislation and put it to use," Ruidas added.

Community advocates and government leaders have particularly eyed the proliferation of short-term vacation rentals on the islands in the wake of the wildfires on Maui that destroyed the town of Lahaina and left thousands without permanent housing on an island where housing was already in short supply.

According to University of Hawaii research from just before the August 2013 fires, 14% of just over 71,000 available units on Maui were short-term rentals. The average across the state was 5.5% of all available units.

Lawmakers have estimated that anywhere from 7,000 to 30,000 homes in Maui were mostly unoccupied, short-term rentals, with many operating illegally outside of proper zoning.

Since the wildfires, many displaced survivors have not obtained permanent housing. Thousands of residents were housed for several months in hotels and resorts, until the units were opened back up for tourists.

Green and other officials in January introduced a plan for longer-term housing that relies on the conversion of short-term rentals, with benefits and kickbacks for property owners who do so. SB 2919 supplements that plan.

The bill also responds to a December court ruling that used a 1957 state zoning law to block a 2022 Oahu ordinance cracking down on vacation rentals in favor of an alliance of short-term rental owners and managers.

U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson had ruled that the zoning law — enacted two years before Hawaii became a state — restricts counties from passing any zoning ordinances that conflict with prior usages.

“This measure empowers the counties to make decisions that they feel are necessary and in the best interest of their own communities in the way each island community sees fit, without a 50-year-old law being co-opted to hamper their efforts,” state Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, a Kaneohe Democrat and one of the authors of the bill, said Wednesday.

Following the wildfires, the 2024 legislative session has focused heavily on Maui, with dozens of measures and resolutions introduced to support Lahaina. Senate Bill 979, intended to establish a financial oversight committee for Lahaina recovery, along with other budgeting and funding measures remain pending in the Legislature. Bills like House Bill 1839, regarding long-term air quality monitoring, aim to monitor health effects of the fires, and bills such as House Bill 1949, provide for investigation into future fire prevention.

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