Policy Committee Meeting Transcript Summary - November 4, 2025
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Policy Committee Meeting Summary: Planning, Land Use and Economic Development
The Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development convened on November 4, 2025, to discuss Bill 98, an ordinance amending Chapter 6 of the Hawaii County Code regarding transient accommodation rentals (TBR). The committee heard public testimony regarding the implementation challenges and public perception of the recently passed Bill 47. County officials, including Deputy Finance Malia Kekai, provided an update on the procurement process for the registration system, leading to a discussion on the sufficiency of the proposed timeline. The committee voted unanimously to forward Bill 98 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation to delay the effective date of the TBR registration requirement until July 1, 2026.
Consent Calendar
- No specific consent items listed in the transcript.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Joshua Montgomery (Opposed): Representing residents and farm families, he testified in strong opposition to the implementation of Bill 98 (and the underlying Bill 47). He argued that the law has been misrepresented to the public as a simple registration process, when it actually requires full code compliance and permitting for new registrations. He cited internal communications stating that tiny homes on wheels and additional farm dwellings may be denied, which he stated would put families relying on this income for mortgages and farming costs out of business. He emphasized the county's obligation to communicate honestly regarding the enforcement of the legislation to avoid economic damage to local families.
Discussion Items
- Bill 98 (Amends Ordinance 25-50): Councilmember Michelle Galimba proposed delaying the effective date of the TBR registration ordinance to July 1, 2026. Councilmember Rebecca Viegas questioned whether the county's finance department was prepared to build the system and the sufficiency of the timeline.
- Implementation Timeline and Procurement: Deputy Finance Malia Kekai reported that the county is meeting weekly with the planning department and aims to post the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the registration system by the end of the next week. She estimated the vendor selection by year-end, with implementation taking an additional three to six months. She noted that a simple registration process could be ready by the proposed date, but adding enforcement complexities could extend the timeline.
- Legislative Clarification and Public Education: Councilmember Fresh O'Neishi expressed concern that the executive branch's evolving plans for the system (including vendor procurement and integration with property tax and planning departments) diverged from earlier public descriptions of a simple registration process. He noted that the public was told the law was merely about registration, but the current plan involves more complex compliance checks, creating confusion. He advocated for more firm answers on the implementation date and emphasized the need for the legislative and executive branches to work together to ensure forms and laws are aligned before public rollout.
- Data Collection Rationale: Councilmember Jennifer Kagiwada supported the amendment and the vendor procurement, highlighting the importance of the data collection system in understanding community trends regarding TBRs.
- Public Outreach Updates: Councilmember Michelle Galimba clarified that the county had hosted a webinar in September and that the website (HawaiiCountyTar.com) lists the required registration information. She noted that the planning department is providing examples of site drawings and that another webinar is planned closer to the launch date to ensure consistent messaging with the finance and planning departments.
Key Outcomes
- Motion Carried: The motion to approve Bill 98 and send it to the full Council with a favorable recommendation was approved by a voice vote.
- Vote Tally: The motion carried with 7 'aye' votes. (Note: Councilmembers Heather Kimball and Holaka Inaba were absent and excused; the transcript lists 5 present members, but the final count is recorded as 7 'aye' votes, likely including absences or a clerical summary of the committee's full composition at the time of the vote declaration).
- Directives: Bill 98 is forwarded to the Council with a recommendation to delay the implementation of the TBR registration until July 1, 2026.
- Next Steps: The county finance department will finalize the RFP for the registration system vendor, and the committee plans to continue public education efforts via webinars.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha. Welcome to the 20th session of the policy committee on planning, land use and economic development. Today is Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. I'm calling this meeting to order at 1104 a.m. Present in HEVO chambers are Councilmembers Michelle Galimba, Rebecca Viegas, Jennifer Kagiwada, Fresh O'Neishi, James Houstis. Joining us shortly is Councilmember Matt Kenely E. Kleinfelder. Absent and excused are Councilmembers Heather Kimball and Holaka Inaba. My name is Ashley Kirkwitz, Chair and Presiding Officer. At this time, Mr. Clerk, if we could please take testimony from the public. Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Just noting that we do not have any testifiers here in Hilo via Zoom. We do have one testifier in our Kona chamber. Scott, if you could introduce our testifier, please. Thank you, Ray. Yeah, today we've got Joshua Montgomery. In opposite opposition, Bill 98. Joshua, go ahead and state your name for the record and proceed. You'll have three minutes. Hello, this is Joshua Montgomery at the Kona side in opposition to Bill 98. So we've now had uh six months since Bill 47 passed, and it was it was uh passed into law and put in a code. And one of the things that we brought up during that process was that what there wasn't enough management capability and there wasn't enough labor to implement the law in a timely way. Uh it turns out that we were right. Uh my guess is that you're having trouble hiring and filling the positions to enforce this, and that of course you're having management problems uh dealing with the interpretation of this law. And I I have some good evidence of that sitting in front of me today. I've got an email here from Micah Gonzalez, uh, a land use planner in the planning department dated September 10th, uh, where she says that it's likely the county will require all rental units to be permitted and free of code violations in order to get a registration. So, according to the planning department, and this email that I'm holding from them, uh anybody who goes for registration needs to have everything fully permitted at their home. Uh, this is not what was represented when this bill was passed. Uh, it is not what was represented to the public, and it's continued not to be what was represented in uh the media as folks are talking about this. The other correspondence I have here is from Heather Kimball. Uh, several of you are CC'd on these messages. On October 7th, she clarified that tiny homes with wheels would be denied. And so all of the homeowners that were told this was just a registration and they just needed to fill out a piece of paperwork. The ones that are running tiny homes that are using that revenue to pay their mortgages, that are using that revenue to pay for their kids to go to college, that are using that revenue to pay their taxes to the county of Hawaii. All of those people are out of business. Finally, I have another email from Heather Kimball. Uh, this one dated uh it looks like September 8th, uh, where she says anything permitted as an additional farm dwelling may not be used as a TVR. So all of the farmers on AG that are currently successfully renting additional farm dwellings, who have been for decades in many cases without complaint, that count on that money to pay their mortgages, that count on that money to offset the cost of running a farm in Hawaii, which are substantial. All of those families that count on that income will not be able to register under this law. I'd encourage you to rethink this law. Uh, to take into consideration the fact that you're putting a lot of families out of business, that you're impacting people's ability to afford to live here in Hawaii, to take into account the fact that you're doing enormous economic damage to local families who count on this money to pay their mortgages. 30 seconds. Finally, and one of the things that that's the most frustrating about this entire process is that it's being misrepresented to the public as just a registration. My neighbors, many of whom are unaware of this registration of this process, are gonna be stunned to find out in six months or in a year and eighteen months, whenever you actually get your ducks together to actually implement this, that they're out of business. They're gonna be stunned. The county has an obligation to communicate honestly with the public about the legislation that's written and the way that it's enforced. Thank you for your testimony, Josh Bloom. That concludes Kona Madam Chair, that's all the testifiers we have on your committee this morning.
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