Call for Volunteers — November 28, 2017 Update

Aloha

November 28 2017 Member Update

  1. Remember – TAT goes up 1% on January 1, 2018
  2. Call for volunteers!!
  3. County of Hawaii ( Big Island )

TAT Increase
Remember that the TAT rate goes up 1% on January 1, 2018 to pay for the new railway from Honolulu Airport to…well, not to Maui.

Call for Volunteers

As we assemble the team to lead us through the 2018 Hawaii legislative session, we have identified a couple of gaps.

WE NEED YOU TO BE A PART OF THE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS TEAM FOR THE UPCOMING 2018 LEGISLATIVE SESSION.

Over the last couple of months, I have put out numerous requests for volunteers.  Volunteers are the lifeblood of RBOAA – in fact, that is all we are.  There are no employees here.   They have allowed us, over the last six years, to defeat numerous efforts that would have forced many of us to abandon our investments in the Aloha State.

Our government relations coordinator has been critical to what we do.  She has spent countless hours researching and analyzing proposed state laws.  Because of her, RBOAA and our members have been able to provide credible testimony on bills before the state legislature to counterbalance the money and power of entities such as the Hawai‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, unions, and property management companies.

She cannot continue to do this monumental task alone.  She needs assistance and assistants  and is willing to teach volunteers to do research and analysis on our issues.  Without more volunteers (and this means YOU) RBOAA cannot continue to be the positive force working for you that it has been. Our Government Relations team needs assistance from individuals with an understanding of legal concepts.

The Government Relations team would also benefit from individuals who are willing to do internet research.  For example, there are reports from DBEDTS, Hawaii Tourism Authority, etc. that we use to incorporate into our position.  Anyone who is willing to do directed research would be of tremendous help.

RBOAA’s mandate is to represent the interests of vacation rental owners at the State level.  We do not have volunteers who are representing the interests of vacation rental owners at the County levels.  However, as we have been predicting for a few years now, the focus is shifting from the State to the Counties.

If you are interested in helping RBOAA work at the County level, please let us know.

Otherwise, the best we can do is to share information that we gather.  If we become aware of new groups being formed to address the County specific issues, we will provide that information to our members.

And with that – here is some information to share.  Please refer to our website for our newsletter from earlier in November with updates from the counties of Honolulu and Maui.

County of Hawaii

The County of Hawaii currently has little to no regulation concerning vacation rentals, however, there is movement toward some degree of regulation in the County.  We aren’t sure of the details yet, but there could be restrictions on rentals located on agricultural lands and general restrictions in the name of addressing homelessness and affordable housing.  The latter might be addressed through a basic registration system and/or perhaps a property tax change.  Vacation rentals could be restricted to resort zones.

We don’t normally circulate petitions, but in this case, an exception is being made.

https://www.change.org/p/karen-eoff-protect-short-term-rentals-on-hawaii-island

Mahalo and Aloha,

Neal