Today our rights to operate our businesses are under threat. On January 23 at 1:00 PM the Hawaii County Counsel is voting on a bill which will impose heavy regulations. Included in the Bill 121 are provisions that:

Completely ban whole home rentals between 30 and 180 days unless the renter is a nurse or other essential worker.
Ban operations on agricultural land. If you are zoned Ag you must shut down.
Eliminate the the Bed and Breakfast category of Hawaii County Code.
Add significant first time and annual fees.
Implement fines of up to $10,000 per night.
Significantly reduce the number of guests that many hosts can accommodate.
Bans innovative alternative accommodations like tiny homes, tree houses, glamping, travel trailers, etc.
In addition, Bill 121 will put any host who cannot prove that every improvement to their property is fully permitted in the position of committing a crime by submitting a knowingly false affidavit or shutting down. Hosts will be forced to choose between committing a crime or retaining their livelihood.

Proponents of the bill have highlighted that existing businesses will be grandfathered in, but there is a state law pending which will allow Hawaii County to revoke special use permits at any time. With this change to state law the grandfather provisions will not protect you.

The Ohana Alina Association is organizing to stop this measure, but we need hosts, owners, housekeepers, maintenance people and local businesses to stand with us.

Please testify both in-person and in-writing at the hearing on January 23 at 1:00 PM. Instructions for how to testify can be found here.  We've also provided some talking points that you may want to consider.