You can respond as well as sign the petition on change.org - http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-hi-stop-bill-hb1707-transient-rentals-to-be-rented-by-licensed-agents-only

It went from 16 signers to almost 200 in only a few hours.  I sent it to all my former tenants as well as Facebook friends.

Hankd, please be sure to submit this as testimony to the bill! You are right, that could be a real eye-opener to them.

Here is where you can submit testimony:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/submittestimony.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1707

Not that I know of.

Yes, I noticed that...figured it was a sloppy typo.  The Senate Bill does not have a petition as far as I know.  It also is not currently accepting testimony on the Hawaii government webpage.  I believe I read somewhere that it is being rewritten...Anyone know for sure?

mauivista/mcvaughn,

1707HD2 is the updated version after the latest committee changes.

My understanding is the "3000" is just a placeholder while it makes its way through the process. This bill is active and most likely would have a 1/1/2013 effective date if approved. It originally had the verbiage "this bill shall take effect upon its approval." You can see the various changes in the bill at this link on the status page on the upper right under "All versions of this measure"

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1707

Interestingly enough, it appears to me that the verbiage requiring the sales agent or broker to actually pay the "appropriate taxes" has been deleted in the newest version. Is anyone else seeing that? The committee report states "with the approval of the owner." However, isn't that the whole point of this bill, that they are insisting that the sales agent/broker will remit the taxes, while we are not? Makes no sense.

I just called her office at 808-586-8510 and spoke with a woman who was very interested to hear solutions to how they could collect taxes from those who are not paying them.  I suggested they look at people's VRBO and HomeAway sites, they can see their calendars, see their names, phone numbers, etc. and figure out if they are renting or not and compare with their tax rolls.

Nice idea!!!!