The full House and Senate will now consider the question of whether to allow each county to determine how — if at all — to regulate short-term vacation rentals on their islands, including the possibility of outlawing them.
A joint House-Senate conference committee Wednesday unanimously voted 10-0 to approve the latest version of Senate Bill 2919.
Gov. Josh Green has promised to sign it if it gets to him.
SB 2919 also attempts to clarify a 1957 law adopted two years before Hawaii became a state that was used to successfully challenge Honolulu’s efforts intended to clamp down on Oahu vacation rentals by prohibiting rentals between 30 and 189 days.
On Dec. 21, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson granted the Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance a permanent injunction that exempts owners of existing rental homes from a provision in a 2022 city law that sought to increase the minimum rental period for residential properties on Oahu to 89 days from 30 days.
At the state Capitol on Tuesday, Green told a cheering crowd of Lahaina Strong members that he will sign SB 2919 once it gets to him.
Green sees converting short-term rentals into longer-term housing for residents as the fastest way to fill a shortfall of 50,000 affordable homes across the state.
Green told the Lahaina Strong members Tuesday that SB 2919 “will have a positive, profound impact on our people. People will be able to get housing again.”
To free up housing for fire survivors, Green previously threatened to ban short-term vacation rentals on Maui — and then more specifically in West Maui — but has since said a ban won’t be necessary.
David Callies, a retired University of Hawaii law school professor who taught courses on land use, property and state and local government, previously said that no ban of its kind had ever been attempted in Hawaii, but would likely be legal under Green’s emergency powers in the aftermath of the wildfires.
Following Wednesday’s conference committee vote, Callies told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that legal challenges are likely to follow any county actions to further regulate vacation rentals if SB 2919 becomes law.
“It won’t happen until the counties take advantage of the situation,” he said. “The courts won’t strike it down now.”
In response to possible legal challenges of “we don’t see where you (counties) get the power to regulate short-term rentals,” Callies said that the intent of SB 2919 is specific:
“It clears the obstacles about any source of power,” he said.
Hawaii has “very weak home rule powers,” Callies said. “We’re one of the weakest home rule states. The theory is that the state is the repository of all police powers.”
Through SB 2919, Callies said, when it comes to enforcement of vacation rentals, the state would make it clear to each county, “‘We grant you that police power.’ That’s really the main issue.”