STAND. COM. REP. NO. 544

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 409

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Tourism and International Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 409 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ZONING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize a zoning ordinance to provide for the amortization or phasing out of nonconforming single-family transient vacation rentals over a reasonable period of time in an area of any zoning classification.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii State Association of Counties.

     Your Committees find that the number of single-family transient vacation rentals in the State has grown throughout the years.  However, due to ambiguity surrounding county zoning authority, the counties often have to resolve claims from owners that claim their property is primarily used for residential purposes and not commercial purposes.  This allows property owners to circumvent various regulations.  Implementation of this measure will reduce county enforcement issues and enable counties to bring non-conforming vacation rentals into compliance.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Tourism and International Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 409, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 409, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Tourism and International Affairs,

________________________________ GILBERT KAHELE, Chair

________________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair