Taking Hawaii County to Court

Giving the Planning Department more power over our industry has been one of the defining themes of Heather Kimball's effort to shove Bill 121 down our throats.

The problem is that the Planning Department is already abusing their authority to illegally target hosted rental operators.  Giving the Planning Department more power is going to make it worse. 

So we're taking legal action against them to make sure they follow the law.

To do this we need your help.  If you've been targeted by the Planning Department for enforcement on STVR issues, please share your Notice of Violation Order (NOVO) letter with us.  Send it to [email protected]. The Planning Department already has it, so there is no down side to providing us with a copy.

Bill 121 Delayed.  Economic Impact Study Moving Forward.

The past two days have been busy for the short term rental industry.  Bill 121 went back to the County Council on Monday where they once again faced withering criticism from the public about the impacts, intended and unintended, that the bill will have on local families.

County Councilors made a number of suggestions for significant changes to the Bill and the author, Heather Kimball, is taking the bill back to the drawing board.  It is currently scheduled to circle back to the County Council on August 20th.

The argument for additional regulation of the short term rental industry on the Big Island is that it will somehow magically increase the number of long term rentals available and solve our housing crisis.

It won’t.

The UHERO study shows exactly what the problem is and how to fix it.

The blue and green portions of the chart are land costs and construction costs. As you can see, they are relatively similar whether you are in Iowa or New York. That makes sense because the construction industry has become global. Though Alaska and Hawaii both have slightly higher costs, they are only 10% or 20% higher than the rest of the country.

The red portion of the chart is regulatory costs. So why does a house in Hawaii cost twice as much as a house in Alaska? Because local politicians here in Hawaii keep adding layer after layer after layer of regulation onto the housing market.

The Ohana Aina Association has been asking Hawaii County to do an independent study of the effects of Bill 121 since Heather Kimball proposed the first draft in 2022.

In March of 2023 we took out a full page newspaper advertisement and offered to pay $10,000 toward the cost of an independent, academically rigorous study.

Heather Kimball even agreed to do a study during the April 18th Meeting of the Leeward Planning Commission:

The Ohana Aina report on Bill 121, the forces behind it, it's impact on our community and suggestions for changes is available here.

The information in this report is very revealing and demonstrates who the winners and losers will be if Bill 121 is passed.

If you oppose this hotel industry driven legislation please come join us at the Leeward Planning Commission tomorrow, April 18th at 2:00 PM to make your views known.

While not in direct response to a corruption case involving a former employee of the housing agency and his co-conspirators, concerns about affordable housing development in the county have been expressed for decades.

A new Hawaiʻi County audit revealed that of the 1,811 affordable housing credits issued since 1988, only 336 credits have resulted in the intended construction of affordable housing units, Hawai‘i County Auditor Tyler Benner recently told the County Council. 

Read More....

Heather Kimball and the Planning Department were given extensive time at the April 4th meeting to present their case in a lengthy and coherant narrative.

We were given 3 minutes each. As a result, our narrative was disjointed and difficult to follow.

At the next meeting we want to give a presentation with each person testifying for 3 minutes about one or two slides.

If you are going to be at the April 18th meeting, please consider helping us out. We need 10x presenters. So far we have 3, so please step up.

If you can help, please contact [email protected]

On Monday I became an official candidate for Hawaii County Council District 7.  I'm running with four other great candidates who are dedicated to the idea that Hawaii County should be focused on core services like water service, road maintenance, solid waste and sewage treatment.

What we shouldn't be doing is passing laws to extend the council's terms, forcing gas stations to install EV charging ports or telling homeowners where they can and cannot sleep.

If you've got a minute, head over to the campaign page and make a pledge of support.

- Write 5 more letters.
- Show up to 5 more meetings.

Thank you for everyone who showed up in person and via zoom.  The newspaper was impressed with the turnout.

That said, there were a lot of empty chairs.  If we are going to defeat this bill then everyone needs to participate.

Partial Win At the Planning Commission

Our plan to defeat Bill 121 is to "Engage in the political process to the fullest extent possible." That means both the legislative process and the upcoming election.

Congratulations to everyone who did that at the Windward Planning Commission. We had hundreds of letters of testimony and provided a 408 page rebuttal detailing our position.

Thursday's planning commission meeting stretched