STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2288

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3333

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 3333 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSIENT VACATION UNITS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize:

(1) Any person to commence a civil action in district court on that person's own behalf against any owner of a dwelling unit if the owner:

(A) Advertises, solicits, offers, or provides the dwelling unit as a transient vacation unit; and

(B) Is not authorized by the applicable county to provide the unit as a transient vacation unit; and

(2) All district courts to hear private civil suits relating to unauthorized transient vacation units.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, Keep it Kailua, and the Hawaii Hotel Alliance. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Airbnb, Rental By Owners Awareness Association, and sixteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.

Your Committee finds that illegal transient vacation units are increasingly located in residential areas, often in violation of zoning laws and creating conflict with residential neighbors. Although your Committee recognizes the concerns of the testimony in opposition, it believes that the lack of regulatory enforcement on illegal transient vacation units is an urgent issue that merits further consideration.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Lowering the cap in damages from $25,000 to $10,000;

(2) Inserting language that allows a prevailing defendant owner to be awarded reasonable attorneys' fees in cases where the court finds the plaintiff's claim to be fraudulent or frivolous; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3333, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3333, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism,

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair