My name is Mariano Clarion and I oppose Bill 9. My family and I operate a housekeeping business, serving more than 70 condominiums in Lahaina, which are STRs on the Minatoya List. We clean these condominiums immediately after guests check out. If you approve Bill 9, my family will lose our livelihood. Our home burned down to the ground during the August 2023 wildfire and construction of its replacement is almost completed. Please do not approve Bill 9, since my family will be devastated. This would be an unspeakable double catastrophe for us.
when the passing of Bill 9 doesn't solve the housing crisis, who will then be to blame? look around no affordable housing.. No taking of peoples property and give to someone else makes sense, this bill will not create more housing, but continues hate, which is propagated by this government.. so sad to see the hate .. Bill 9 creates more unaffordable housing - AI isn't writing death threats, hateful people are.... the division the community is going thru has created hatred, which is out of control. The Mayor is not a leader.. he started the hatred, he didn't have to; it appears the council members will continue the hate by passing this bill..
My spoken testimoney was cut off before I could finish with what I believe could be a good solution:
1. Long term - work to use state and county land for affordable housing, work to build an infrastructure for water delivery from east Maui, and improve the permitting process so that building can plan appropriately
2. Short term - provide a $2000/ month subsidy for long term rentals of vacation rental units for working families. This would reduce the monthly rental cost, increase the availability of long term rentals immediately, and still allow TVR owners to keep their units. The TVR owner would sign up for 5 years and the renters would have to meet the same requirements as the property tax long term classification.
These two items would solve the problem today and in the future. It will take $$.
My name is Sandra Kaestle and my husband and I have owned a STR in Kihei since 2013. We are opposed to Bill 9 as we strongly believe it will lead to an even greater decline in Maui tourism than is already happening. But we actually have questions for the Committee as we have searched and have been unable to find the answers.
1. With the zoning decisions in the last 5-7 of new residential building (off all types) on Maui, how many units were zoned for actual workforce housing, not letting the developer buy their way out of building actual units? We are most familiar with Makena Mauka which is to have 900 units and the developers are only being required to have 60 - 100 workforce housing units - why would you not follow your own laws and require more workforce housing units? Is the County law not 25% (that's 225 units) of the units being built are to be workforce housing? There is also the planned development in Wailea by Ledcor Maui, again 975 luxury homes - where the developer states they expect 90% to be seasonally occupied - and Maui County planning committee is only requiring 75 onsite workforce housing units another 75 are to be built offsite (we could find no details on where they are to be built) and the developer will buy themselves out of another 75 units. You, the housing and land use committee, have the power and responsibility right now to create brand new built for purpose work force housing - yet you DO NOT do that. Why is that?
2. In the last 12 months, how many condos in these targeted Minatoya complexes have come on the market? How many have sold to local residents in need of housing? Maui Now reported last week on the April and May real estate statistics and they are dismal for Maui County. a 40.7% drop in sales for April from 2024 to 2025 and a 24.5% drop in price. The average sales price for April 2024 was $727,000. May sales 2024 to 2025 also decreased and the overall total sales volume for sold condos in May fell 39.2% from 2024. These prices should be bringing in local buyers, why are they not buying them? What do these resort condos (built in the 1980's specifically to be a resort condo) not have that residents of Maui need? That is not going to change by enacting Bill 9, they were not built to be full time residential units for singles, couples, or families.
3. Where will your Hawaii school sports teams stay when they come to the island for festivities or tournaments - 12 rooms at the Grand Wailea or the Hyatt Ka'anapali? That's a lot of fundraising for the parents and students to do. These vacation condos serve a very important need on the islands. They can bunk together, spread out, cook or bring in food and enjoy the kitchens. Teams can all book at one condo resort and not be stressed about the exorbitant cost of lodging and needing to eat out every meal.
4. The same goes with families either local or from the mainland. People want to vacation on Maui, they want options for lodging that do not include hotels. A family of 5 does not want a child on the floor or a cot, they for sure do not want to have to book 2 hotel rooms. Why is the committee thinking of taking all of this away by banning STRs?
5. We often see mention of Barcelona, NYC or other cities that have taken action. Where action has started, it involves only banning VRBO or Air BnB or similar online rental booking operations, they have not taken over entire complexes built as resorts and banned those units from being operated as hotels. And these cities have set timelines many years out from when the laws were enacted. Why would the County of Maui not start there if they feel the need to move forward in removing STRs from the island?
6. How are leasehold properties impacted by Bill 9?
We do not support Bill 9. There are laws in place currently to require more workforce housing to be built yet the Council does not follow those laws. It makes no sense to take these existing resort properties, such as the Palms at Wailea managed by Outrigger Hotels, or the Maui Hill Resort, managed by Aston Hotels - and make them residential housing. Please tighten up your regulations, weed out the illegal rentals, stop AirBnB or similar outfits from renting a handful of units in an apartment setting. There are so many steps you can take to improve the housing situation on the island, Bill 9 is not one of them. Mahalo.
Correction to previous testimony: the Ma’alaea Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant illegally imports up to three pump truckloads of pathogen-laden activated sludge from a municipal treatment plant into the system per MONTH. Not per week, as was misstated before. Still an illegal discharge by DOBOR to a nearshore leach field that is not allowed by the UIC permit that only allows effluent from Harbor sources. Aloha
Testimony in Strong Support of a Ban on Short-Term Rentals in Maui
Title: Throwing Holy Water on Mā‘alaea
Aloha Chair and Councilmembers,
I submit this testimony in the spirit of aloha, accountability, and restoration. This is a call to take up the holy water of the law—not only the statutes in the books but the codes of honor publicly proclaimed by agencies, organizations, and individuals. The path to healing our communities and our coastlines begins here, and it begins with a ban on short-term rentals (STRs) across Maui.
Chapter 1: Jubilee for the Waters – DLNR’s Harbor Wastewater Plant Must Pay
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), through the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR), operates the Ma‘alaea Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant under a UIC permit allowing only treatment of effluent generated on-site. However, for years, this facility has quietly accepted up to three truckloads of activated sludge per week from a County of Maui municipal plant—an illegal act that increases pollution loading in Ma’alaea and directly violates their injection well permit.
This is not a technicality. It is a systemic, years-long breach of federal environmental law. The Clean Water Act and UIC rules are not guidelines. They are enforceable commitments—made not just to regulators but to the land and the sea.
The maximum penalty is $25,000 per day per violation. Just one illegal leach field over a 10-year period could yield over $91 million in potential fines. And those funds could immediately serve Maui:
• $15–$20 million to install UV disinfection at the Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility
• Infrastructure improvements at Kihei WWRF to achieve 100% R-1 reuse
• Expanded cesspool conversion grants for working families
Let this be our Jubilee—a year of ecological reckoning, debt cancellation, and the restoration of what is rightfully owed to our waters. DLNR’s own 2014 report (Maui’s Coral Reef Decline) cannot be taken seriously until the department addresses the contradiction of harboring chronic injection violations. Let every agency be subject to the same enforcement as every citizen.
Chapter 2: The Coral Contradiction – Maui Ocean Center Must Pay
We now turn to the Maui Ocean Center (MOC), operated by Coral World International, with their stated vision:
“To conserve and sustain Hawai‘i’s marine life for future generations through education and stewardship.”
This facility has long marketed itself as a beacon of marine education and reef conservation, yet it has been disclosed to the safe Drinking Water Branch in April 2025 to be the site of chronic UIC violations, discharging unapproved aquarium water treatment process effluent into the Triangle WWTP and injection wells while reporting only human domestic restroom influent for years. An enforcement investigation is currently underway by SDWB.
The Safe Drinking Water Branch penalty for this type of violation can be up to $50,000 per day. If the illegal process effluent comprising aquarium water treatment filter backwash and protein skimmer material has been happening for the entire estimated 10,000 days since the MOC opened in 1998, then the potential fine reaches $500 million—enough to fund a HI state cesspool conversion grant for 25,000 local households, fixing every high risk cesspool in the state to launch a new era of environmental justice for our island.
Under the Hawaiʻi Cesspool Compliance Pilot Grant Program (CPGP)—established by Act 153 (2022) and implemented under the DOH Wastewater Branch—eligible households were offered reimbursements up to $20,000 toward cesspool conversion or sewer connection, drawing from a $5 million fund on a first-come, first-served basis for Priority Level 1–2 areas .
The program launched on March 15, 2023, under HDOH’s oversight, with a strict 270‑day compliance window, requiring licensed-engineer design, DOH approval, and supporting inspections .
Deputy Director Kathleen Ho underscored the program’s importance: “This is truly an exciting program… provide a healthier environment for future generations” .
However, by mid-2025, all funds were exhausted, with approximately 225 households awarded, and a waiting list established. The framework for healing is in place. It would be so poetic and cool if Coral World funded this in a revolutionary act of accountability.
Statements from Coral World make it clear that the only way for them to stay true to their own morals is to pay the full UIC fine voluntarily:
“Prioritize the Ocean. Our foremost commitment is to the oceans. We wholeheartedly champion and support marine life.”
South African-born Morris Kahn, the founder of Coral World International, is estimated to have a net worth of approximately $1 billion, according to public sources such as Forbes and Celebrity Net Worth.
We ask only this: live up to your own words. Pay the fine. Restore the trust. Align your actions with your values.
Let Tapani Vuori, General Manager of MOC and signatory of the UIC permit in violation, be remembered not for the infraction but for the act of redemption. If he helps to convince Coral World International to render full penalty fine payment and the state of Hawaii allocates UIC penalty resources toward $25,000 upgrade grants for Maui households, he will step into a sacred role—not merely as a manager, but as a redeemer. With full support of Governor Green, the grants could start going out by the end of 2025.
The Hawai‘i Department of Health’s Safe Drinking Water Branch (SDWB), in coordination with EPA Region 9, enforces underground injection control (UIC) violations through Consent Agreements and Final Orders (CAFOs) under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. § 300h–2(c)) and HAR Chapter 11-23. These legally binding restitution agreements allow regulators to impose monetary penalties—up to $25,000 or $50,000 per day, depending on severity—and can direct those penalties into Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) such as cesspool conversion grants or wastewater treatment upgrades. The CAFO process includes public notice and comment under 40 CFR § 22.45, a negotiated compliance schedule, and enforceable reporting obligations. Funds from such agreements may be allocated toward projects that directly remediate environmental harm in the impacted community, as seen in prior Hawai‘i enforcement actions. This mechanism provides a lawful pathway to transform fines into targeted restitution.
Tapani Vuori, General Manager of Maui Ocean Center, has served as a member of the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s Cesspool Conversion Working Group since at least 2021, a body tasked with guiding the statewide transition from cesspools to environmentally responsible alternatives pursuant to Act 125 (2017). His participation places him in a position of direct influence over state policy, funding priorities, and public education on wastewater impacts—further underscoring the urgency of full compliance with his facility’s own injection well obligations.
Chapter 3: Save MVA – A Reckoning for the Soul of Mā‘alaea
Mā‘alaea is a mirror of Maui. The fight unfolding there is not just a local skirmish—it is a signal of the deeper crisis we face island-wide. When housing is chopped into daily rentals for passive profit, it no longer serves the people—it serves capital. This is not innovation. It is extraction.
The only way to accumulate excess is to take more than one gives. That is not wisdom. That is imbalance. And when that imbalance is centered on shelter, the result is displacement, despair, and spiritual decay.
Donors volunteering their time for years for the Ma‘alaea Village Association (MVA) have quietly endured personal tragedies—lives lost, healthcare denied, careers ended—all traceable to policies aligned with political candidates from the American continent that have been funded by an MVA STR profiteer and MVA officer. These aren’t vague political talking points. These are real-world, life-altering consequences suffered by volunteers who serve their community, while watching others extract wealth with no accountability.
What are we to make of this moral inversion?
We affirm that those who work, who build, who serve—are the true foundation of Maui. And those who sit on idle STR investments, extracting income while contributing nothing to the commons—are not stewards. They are colonizers of convenience.
Let us speak clearly: this is not a class war. It is a battle between people with class and those without.
To have class is to maintain balance in every transaction: to give and take in measure, to uplift others when you rise. To lack class is to sit on hoarded wealth while others sleep in their cars. And that is what passive income has become—a form of spiritual kleptomania.
We issue this challenge: let every STR owner in Mā‘alaea—indeed, across all of Maui—rent their unit long term at truly affordable rates to the applicant who can afford it with the lowest credit score and the most urgent housing need. Offer it not for praise, but as a way to unburden your karma. If the afterlife is real, then wealth hoarded now becomes labor owed later. Why not settle the debt in this life, where it can still help someone?
⸻
Conclusion: Holy Water and the Rule of Law
Let this STR ban be our act of holy water: not poured in anger, but in cleansing.
The laws exist. The mission statements exist. The permits, codes, and public promises exist. If each individual, each agency, and each corporation simply follows the laws they wrote for themselves, we could resolve nearly all of Maui’s wastewater and housing crises in this generation.
The rule of law by this Council—here in this occupied nation—must be followed like the word of God. And the statements made by our institutions must be honored as sacred covenants, or else be stripped away as fraud.
Testimony Opposing Bill 9: Protecting Maui’s Economy, Livelihoods, and Community
Aloha Chair and Council Members,
I stand before you today not only to oppose Bill 9, but to sound an alarm on the unintended consequences this legislation will have on the heart and soul of our island — our people.
Supporters of Bill 9 argue that converting short-term rentals into long-term housing will create affordability for our local working families. But I ask you to look deeper — beyond the surface of good intentions — and see the devastating reality this bill would bring upon the very people it claims to help.
There is no guarantee this will create affordable housing.
What this bill will create is uncertainty. Private property owners forced to convert their short-term rentals will not necessarily choose to rent affordably — many will simply sell. And who will be able to afford those purchases? Will it be the young local couple starting a family? Or will it be out-of-state investors with cash in hand, ready to snatch up newly available inventory, driving prices even higher? The market will remain speculative and inaccessible for our working families, as it has been for decades. Bill 9 offers no mechanism to ensure affordability — it offers only hope wrapped in policy, while real consequences unfold.
It will devastate our local economy — and our people.
Maui’s economy is intricately woven into the tourism industry. While visitors may stay in hotels, thousands also choose legally permitted vacation rentals. These visitors fuel our small businesses, our shops, our restaurants, our tour operators, our farmers, our fisherman, our artists, and our cultural practitioners. But beyond that, there’s an entire community behind the scenes — the aunties and uncles who clean homes, the cousins who mow the lawns, the family-run property management companies, the local handymen, electricians, plumbers, and small contractors who depend on these short-term rentals for steady, dignified work.
What happens when those jobs disappear?
The very working class this bill claims to serve will be left with fewer opportunities. These are not faceless corporations — these are our neighbors, our friends, our ʻohana who have built their livelihoods maintaining and servicing these properties. The ripple effects will reach every corner of our island. Fewer tourists mean fewer jobs. Fewer jobs mean more families struggling to survive. And as families struggle, they will be forced to leave the island in search of opportunity elsewhere — exactly the opposite of what we all want.
Tourism numbers will decline, but hotels cannot absorb that loss.
Visitors who prefer short-term vacation rentals often travel in larger groups, for extended stays, or for family celebrations. Many would not come if limited only to hotel options. Bill 9 threatens to reduce overall visitor spending, directly impacting our already fragile economy still recovering from wildfires, rising costs of living, and the global pandemic.
We should not trade one crisis for another.
Yes, affordable housing is a real and urgent need. But Bill 9 is not a solution. It simply shifts the burden, destabilizes our economy, and jeopardizes the livelihoods of thousands of hardworking local families. We need thoughtful, creative solutions that expand affordable housing without sacrificing the backbone of our local economy.
The aunties, uncles, and small business owners of Maui deserve better than a bill that gambles with their future. We deserve policies that uplift our community, not ones that dismantle it.
Please, I urge you: vote NO on Bill 9. Let us come together as a community and find real solutions that protect both our ʻohana and our economy. We have more than enough land that the county and state own. Why not try: building there to start, while it will also irrigate the land to prevent more natural wild fires? Just a thought.
My name is Ricky Lew and I am writing to oppose Bill 9. I work as Resident Maintenance Manager at the Makani Sands Condominiums, which is on the Minatoya List. If Bill 9 is enacted, I will not only lose my job but also lose my on-site housing, which is part of my compensation package. Please vote against this Bill 9.
I am writing in support of phasing out short term rentals. Having recently traveled to Europe, I see cities like Barcelona declaring that the negative impact to the collective is far worse than the profit of the Individual. I am a resident of Maui, and a renter. Affordable housing for families is really hard here, and without stable housing it’s hard to feel safe or secure or make a life that includes pets and your kids staying in the same school. This problem won’t be solved with band aid solutions and this bill is the answer to a long term answer. While a few may lose out on profit, many more will benefit overall. Profit is never more important than people, and profit is the only reason it would make sense to keep STRs as is.
Sincerely,
Hollie Bearden
Kahului Maui
The only thing Bill 9 does is create more UNAFFORDABLE housing.. and end jobs of those in the tourism industry, making people that work in the industry not be able to afford their rent, and be put on unemployment - Bill 9 is a loser bill.. everyone loses.. there are no winners except for those who live out of state and want condo's here on Maui and can afford the exorbitant Condo dues.. this bill should be called the more UNAFFORDABLE housing bill 9
My name is Kimberly Harper, and I own a short-term rental property in Maui. I am writing today to express my deep concern and strong opposition to the proposed legislation to phase out more than 7,000 vacation rentals.
After reviewing the comprehensive economic analysis conducted by UHERO, I am deeply concerned about the severe economic impacts this measure would have on our community.
My biggest concern has to do with unemployment, poverty and homelessness and I feel that if this proposition were to pass, we would see more of this on Maui. At a time when Maui’s community is still recovering from the devastating wildfires of 2023, we cannot afford to implement policies that would further destabilize the economy.
Owning a vacation rental has not been easy. We’ve faced huge maintenance costs, special assessments, and massive increases in insurance after the fires. These aren’t luxuries — they’re costs that ensure the property remains safe and functional. Short term rental income helps cover those costs while supporting local workers.
I’ve worked hard to be a responsible and community-oriented owner and I employ local service providers — cleaners, maintenance techs — many of whom have become family over the years. With tourism being down right now, they are struggling, just like in the early days of Covid.
We all know there is a shortage of housing in Maui and other parts of the country, and so let’s work together to come up with solutions and not take away from something that is already working, that adds financial stability to Maui.
I urge the Council to work with owners like me to find a fair and balanced path forward — one that protects local jobs, supports the economy, instead of phasing us out completely.
Mahalo for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
I’m 78 years old and have lived and worked in Lahaina for over four decades.
For 43 years, I’ve run a family-owned, legal short-term vacation rental and real estate business.
This is not just my livelihood—it’s my life’s work.
It has supported local employees, local vendors, and countless local families who rely on tourism to survive.
After the mayor’s press conference announcing his STVR ban, with tourism already collapsing, I contacted you and other council members and begged you to act quickly on his proposed ban, warning that delayed action would crash bookings, leave condos unsold, tank property values by hundreds of thousands, and shutter businesses.
Every word I feared has come true—worse than I imagined. Bookings have evaporated, condos sit empty, property values where I sell have plummeted by $300,000 each or more, and businesses are closing.
I’ve recently lost two employees of 18+ years.
Both local women with families - with children, parents, grandparents they supported through their work for my company.
I lie awake terrified I’ll lose my home, my savings, my purpose.
And yet, our county government did nothing. For all these months since the press conference, while we bled, Maui County sat idle.
Mayor Bissen says he’s fighting for “our people.”
But apparently, that doesn’t include the 7,000 legal STVR owners or the thousands of workers—cleaners, landscapers, contractors—who depend on us.
We followed every law. We paid every tax. We built our lives around what the County allowed.
Tourism, 40% of our economy, is dying, hurting all residents. And now we are being blamed for a housing crisis created by decades of failed planning.
This ban will not help the victims of Lahaina’s fire.
Their suffering is profound, but this ban won’t help them—it targets legal businesses like mine, deepening Maui’s pain.
Turning legal condos into empty units doesn’t create affordable housing.
These properties were never meant for families. They don’t meet basic residential standards.
What’s worse is the growing sentiment that people like me and my clients deserve this hardship—that our losses somehow balance out someone else’s.
That we’re outsiders, profiteers, the problem. This cruel thinking pits neighbor against neighbor and tears our community apart.
I’ve been here longer than many pushing this ban, yet I’m treated like an outsider.
We are not scapegoats. We are not villains. We are Maui residents—just like you.
We want to be part of the solution, but this bill only creates more pain.
This bill simply destroys more lives. Mayor, council, see our desperation!
You’re abandoning over half this county, ignoring our legal investments and our financial devastation that this proposal has created.
I urge you: reject Bill 9. Focus on real solutions—fund affordable housing, support fire victims, fast-track workforce housing.
But do not let the mayor’s ban erase 43 years of honest work and legal investment.
Please—do not abandon us. Do not divide us. Choose leadership. Choose fairness. Choose unity.
My name is Michael Cicchino, and I am a proud resident and registered voter of Maui who survived the Lahaina wildfire. On that devastating day along Front Street, I was caught in the fire and was extraordinarily fortunate to escape with my life. This traumatic experience has only strengthened my commitment to support our community’s recovery, resilience, and future.
Having endured that catastrophe and the subsequent hardships—including losing my rental residence, my businesses, and living in hotels for over a year—I wish to share my perspective regarding the proposed ban on short-term rentals (STRs).
**The Economic Importance of Short-Term Rentals**
Numerous studies underscore the critical role that short-term rentals play in our local economy. According to a 2019 report by *Airbnb*, these rentals generated billions of dollars in economic activity worldwide and supported millions of jobs in tourist-dependent regions. Removing them would result in significant income losses for local families, small businesses, and workers in hospitality, cleaning, management, and service sectors. The Hawaii Tourism Authority’s 2021 report highlights that tourism—including accommodations such as STRs—is the backbone of our economy. Curtailing these options could reduce visitor numbers, hurting restaurants, retail, and hospitality businesses, leading to layoffs and wage reductions.
Furthermore, research published in the *Journal of Tourism Economics* in 2020 found that restrictions on short-term rentals in popular destinations often lead to decreased tourism visitation and economic downturns. These disruptions threaten the livelihoods of many who depend on tourism for their income.
**Resident Preferences for Housing**
In addition to the economic argument, surveys and studies reveal that residents prefer living in single-family homes rather than condos. The *Hawaii Housing Planning Study* (2020) indicates that the majority of residents value the privacy, space, and community involvement associated with standalone houses. Moreover, a 2019 survey published in the *Hawaii Journal of Social Sciences* found that many residents express a desire for detached housing, citing concerns over noise, privacy, and over-crowding associated with condo living.
This preference suggests that banning STRs—which often encompass entire homes—would not align with local housing desires and could restrict housing options for families seeking a more private, stable environment.
**Potential Consequences of an STR Ban**
Banning short-term rentals could unintentionally worsen the housing crisis, drive up housing costs, and impact our overall quality of life. It could also diminish our tourism economy, which is vital for our community’s survival and recovery post-wildfire. Many residents prefer and advocate for responsible development rather than outright bans, which may harm the economic and social fabric of our community.
**A Call for Balanced and Responsible Solutions**
Rather than implementing a sweeping ban, I urge policymakers to pursue balanced, sustainable strategies—such as incentivizing the development of affordable, permanent housing, while managing STRs responsibly. Maui has land and resources to develop more affordable housing, especially with proper planning and community involvement. Good examples come from projects with the right incentives—building homes that meet local needs while supporting our economy.
**Final Thoughts**
While I understand the concerns some community members have about STRs, the evidence suggests that their elimination could have broad, negative impacts—economically, socially, and culturally. Our community needs flexible, responsible solutions that support both residents and visitors, ensuring Maui’s recovery and resilience.
Mahalo for considering my perspective. I hope we can work together to find solutions that serve everyone—residents, visitors, and future generations.
Testimony in Support of Bill 9 – Addressing the Misuse of Apartment Zoning and the False Narrative of Past “Benefits”
Aloha Chair and Members of the Housing and Land Use Committee,
My name is Renee P Kaiama and I write in strong support of Bill 9, which aims to restore integrity to Maui’s apartment zoning and ensure that our land serves the needs of residents, not speculative interests.
Over the past 30 years, some have profited tremendously under our current zoning framework—particularly realtors, developers, and short-term rental (STVR) owners who have exploited apartment districts for commercial gain. But we must not confuse private profit with public benefit. If this zoning regime were truly beneficial to the people of Maui, we would not be facing a housing crisis of this magnitude. Instead, we have widespread displacement, a loss of long-term rentals, and entire neighborhoods hollowed out to make room for visitors.
What this tells us is clear: the current system is not working.
The evidence is overwhelming:
• Maui’s median home prices continue to soar far beyond what working families can afford.
• Long-time residents and Native Hawaiian families are being priced off-island or into homelessness.
• Apartment-zoned properties—originally intended to provide housing—have been quietly converted into de facto hotel operations without community input or proper regulation.
And yet, those who have benefitted from this imbalance now argue that the system shouldn’t change. They claim that removing short-term rental rights from apartment zoning will harm their bottom line. But it is not the County’s kuleana to protect investor ROI while our local families suffer from overcrowding, displacement, and insecurity.
Profitability for a small sector of owners and brokers is not a metric of policy success. It is a sign of a regulatory failure—a failure that Bill 9 finally begins to correct. For too long, we’ve allowed speculative use of housing to supersede its intended purpose: shelter for residents.
Bill 9 is not about punishment—it is about realignment. It is not a radical move—it is a long-overdue course correction. It reaffirms that land zoned for apartments must serve housing purposes, not function as de facto hotels under a misapplied designation. It reflects our obligation to serve the greater good and to repair decades of imbalance.
We acknowledge that many built their livelihoods within this flawed system. But now, we must ask: At what cost? If the last 30 years have taught us anything, it’s that leaving land use policy in the hands of market forces and speculative incentives leads to community harm and systemic inequality.
Bill 9 is a step toward rebalancing that equation. It protects the long-term wellbeing of our island, our neighborhoods, and our people.
I urge you to pass Bill 9 and stand on the side of sustainable housing, responsible zoning, and public trust.
I thank you for this important meeting and Bill 9 as it reflects the urgent importance of living standards and respect for residents of Maui versus those eating up the resources and space with their colonial entitlement occupations. I support Bill 9. The long term residents are the heart of the community. I am a settler from the continent and have been here for only 14 years, I do not own anything and rent with my partner who is from the islands. We work in the community, we give to our community, learn from our community and are accountable to our community. My contribution to Maui doesn’t just come from the money I give to restaurants or stores or small businesses, or my taxes but comes from the boots on the ground, the hands in the soil, and the accountability that I offer everyday that I live here. It is so clearly entitled supremacy I read and when I listen to the occupied owners of the STRʻs. They think they are Kapalua and somehow they made it a place. Somehow they think their money is the community. It is horrific as the continuation of predominantly American occupiers think they are what makes Hawaii work. I know that local families do own STRʻs and this income supports their families. I know that solutions to housing are going to hurt some people but the majority of people who own do NOT want to live here and are not solutions to the massive crisis that Maui residents face everyday.
As far as Bill 9 I do have questions, the amendments made on June 3rd to make this go into effect 5 years from now. This bill needs to go into effect much sooner as in 5 years there is a devastation effect to Hawaii at large with the lack of housing and the detrimental effects of colonial occupation for tourism. I understand there are complications for all these owners that think they deserve to take up space because they bought in an illegally occupied nation. Yet 5 years seems way too long given the dire circumstance of housing needs. I also question the stated amendment reading “Clarifies that validly existing time share units or time share plans are exempt from being phased out;” how is it possible that these time shares are given exemptions from phase out? Given the issues with overuse of water, the diaspora, homeless disaster, illegal occupation, Hawaiian homelands still not being awarded, why would these STRʻs be given preferential treatment? Why are there exemptions given to them versus the actual people of Hawaii that have not been given any exceptions for land and housing that has been taken from them. The days of giving colonial pleasures exceptions over local families' living has come to end. I would also hope that the council continues to place restrictions on neighborhood owned vacation rental houses to restore a sense of place for the people who live here and the safety for the children.
I understand that the taxes and all the things give money but the fact is with that comes entitlement. The residents of this place cannot continue to be second-class citizens. I know there are good people who live here that live in other nations and that they love Maui. Yet the majority of what this brings is the contribution to how things work such as, making the prices skyrocket, the beaches overcrowded, the community their servants, the water disappear, the traffic unbearable, maintenance of homelessness and the diaspora of local families. I ask how many trees have they planted for the native ecosystem, how many streams have they worked to protect, how many teachers have they thanked, how many families have they helped to rise, how many local neighbors do they know, how many legislative sessions have they stood with local families? These are the differences of occupation owners versus people living in a place. The short term rentals are houses that should be for families that live here. Long term families should not be without housing so out of town people can come occupy when they or their friends like. The data is in the short term rentals and Minatoya list needs to be dealt with. I am thankful for the Maui County council and the Mayor for standing for the people. I support Bill 9 and stand with the people of Lahaina Strong, Lahaina Community Land trust, Maui Housing Hui, HAPA, and the other countless living and past residents of Maui and the need for housing to remain accessible and community owned. Phase out these STRʻs and if the owners are not happy that is ok. Local families are not happy, nor consenting, or thriving from all the years of illegal and continued suffering because of American occupation.
I support Bill 9. Housing for the community first and now.
Thank you Pahnelopi McKenzie
I’m an interfaith minister here on Maui. I strongly support Bill 9 and the full phasing out of STVRs on the Minatoya list—with no carve-outs. Your vote to pass and enforce this bill will have lasting benefits for our entire island community.
Over two-thirds of my income comes from the visitor industry, so I understand the concerns about tourism. But I also know what a real crisis looks like—and we are in one.
A crisis is a turning point. I see families—sometimes 15 people—crowded into two-bedroom units, working multiple jobs and still unable to secure adequate housing. Others sleep in cars or surf couches, doing their best just to stay here. This is a crisis of home.
The Minatoya list was never meant to be permanent. It was an exception—and now is the time to correct it. Phasing it out will return desperately needed housing to local residents.
We’re also in urgent need of doctors and healthcare workers—professionals who might come and stay if housing were available.
In a true crisis, you do everything you can to help. That moment is now.
with aloha,
Rev Julienne Givot
96753
As someone who was born and raised on Maui and then moved to the mainland due to housing costs and opportunities as a young adult, I am in support of Bill 9. Growing up, the running joke was that the young people of Maui would not be able to afford housing. How is that sustainable? How are Maui residents supposed to live their lives competing with tourists for housing? I understand that when these properties were purchased as secondary housing that it was legal, but just because it was legal doesn't mean it is just. I support Maui residents being able to access more housing. I support Bill 9.
I am writing in opposition to Bill 9. And I think it's important for the Council to recognize we are not the villains in this story. And we have in the past, and continue to support the people of Maui in a myriad of ways. I present here, another perspective.
Supporters of Bill 9 continually want to paint us as the big bad wolf, and a bunch of rich, greedy people. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Owners of most vacation rental condos are lucky enough to break even these days. And essentially all the money we spend as owners, stays on Maui, as does the money spent by our guests.
We have owned our property since 2006, and in that time, one of the things we’ve done every year, is offer our home in a charity silent auction for a non-profit. We have always felt strongly about giving back, and this was a way to share the beauty of Maui with others as well.
After the August 2023 fires, we decided that a whole different level of giving was required. Within 12 hours of the fire in Lahaina, it became quite evident that people were not going to be able to return to their homes. I immediately jumped on Facebook where I joined in several conversations where we were trying to secure housing for people. I connected with a family of 4 and did not hesitate to open my home (vacation rental property) to them at no charge. I told them that they were welcome to stay as long as necessary, as our future guests had cancelled, when the state and county were discouraging people from coming to the island.
Then, as soon as drop off locations were established like the Sheraton and Honokowai, once again we didn’t hesitate to jump in and help. For two straight weeks, every single day, we drove from the South side to Costco and filled our car until there wasn’t an inch of space. We would then drive to locations on the west side and drop off donations of food and other essentials. Whatever was posted on the “Things We Need” lists online. We did this all day long – at our own expense.
Then came the Facebook pages that were created so people could start an Amazon gift page for themselves for items they needed. For an additional year, I would visit these pages and purchase items for strangers several days a week. Again, at my own expense.
So when people call us greedy, treat us as if we are horrible people, with no feelings ourselves, and treat us as though we’ve been doing something illegal, when we absolutely have not, it’s like a dagger to my heart. I just feel it’s important that people remember we’re humans with needs too. And we’re not what they make us out to be.
There must be a better compromise then what is currently being presented. I would urge you and the other Council members to try to come up with that better solution that treats all of us with the respect WE ALL deserve.
Aloha, my name is Lucy Reardon and I am in support of Bill 9. I am a lifetime Lahaina resident, and I lost the home I was raising my children in on August 8th 2023. I am in support of this bill, because I have seen first hand how short term rentals affect our community. My family has yet to find stable housing, my children have had to move 6 times, and each time it’s time to start a new year at school we have to figure out what part of the island we will be on to figure out what school we can sign up for. I am currently living in a condo that was being used as an Air BNB, our lease is up and we sat down and had an interesting conversation with the realtor that manages it. In her eyes “local” people cannot live in condos, “local” people don’t want to, and “local” people can’t afford them.. all of these statements are false. Us “local” people would LOVE to live in a home they can call there own, where there babies can have a bed to sleep on every night. Local people can definitely afford them, if they weren’t all owned by Tom, Dick, and Jerry in Colorado. And us local people do not owe them nothing. They WANT to own 5 condos somewhere they don’t live and CHOOSE to post them as short term rentals. Meanwhile I NEED To find a place for my babies to sleep. Needs are essential for survival and a persons well being, someone wants something to simply enhance something that is not necessary. Needs are basic requirements like food, shelter, and healthcare. While wants come from entertainment and luxury. Why should you be entertained in luxury while the people that are from this land suffer?
I am Karan Marsh, retired California State employee. My husband Steve, retired San Jose fire fighter. We strongly oppose Bill 9 as it harms Maui residents and does not solve the housing problem.
Per the Maui Community Plan, in the 1970s, Maui County asked for and received Federal funds to attract tourists via these accommodations to strengthen the economics of this beautiful island via the Kihei 701 Plan. All documented within County records. Since the 70s, we have legally stewarded our properties and promoted the Aloha spirit increasing island revenue by billions.
The State approved the continued STR business license at our address. The State and County approved our condo purchase with the continued STR business. Bank of Hawaii charged us Condotel mortgage rates. What compensation are you prepared to pay for this taking of our business? Last hearing, someone recommended increasing taxes on investment properties. Tenants, you need to protest such an increase, so your rent is not increased to cover that cost. If Tenants want lower rent, County needs to lower property taxes.
Maui’s 2026-Operating-Budget sets aside almost $67 million to bankroll countywide residential projects and infrastructure. In 2019, Maui purchased an Affordable Housing Plan which documented new complexes with 6,371 affordable Maui homes. If you eliminate legal STR condos, will you push visitors into illegal neighborhood STR homes?
Commission Members, we all have wasted too much time, blood, sweat and tears on Bill 9. We’d rather avoid litigation as much as you. Stop throwing good money after this bad idea. Finish the developments. Convert malls, buildings and unused properties into loving homes.
If this measure goes through, we will move permanently into our Wailea Ekahi condo. We will do our very best to support the current residents, which Bill 9 severely penalizes as it turns a blind eye on Maui’s small businesses. Proponents of Bill 9 wish remaining tourists to stay at the expensive hotels which continue to pay slave wages to their employees. If you think STR profits go offshore, where would profits for long-term rental go? BTW, there are rarely STR profits. Hotel profits go offshore.
Thank you for this opportunity to oppose Bill 9 as it harms Maui residents and does not solve the housing problem.
My name is Mariano Clarion and I oppose Bill 9. My family and I operate a housekeeping business, serving more than 70 condominiums in Lahaina, which are STRs on the Minatoya List. We clean these condominiums immediately after guests check out. If you approve Bill 9, my family will lose our livelihood. Our home burned down to the ground during the August 2023 wildfire and construction of its replacement is almost completed. Please do not approve Bill 9, since my family will be devastated. This would be an unspeakable double catastrophe for us.
when the passing of Bill 9 doesn't solve the housing crisis, who will then be to blame? look around no affordable housing.. No taking of peoples property and give to someone else makes sense, this bill will not create more housing, but continues hate, which is propagated by this government.. so sad to see the hate .. Bill 9 creates more unaffordable housing - AI isn't writing death threats, hateful people are.... the division the community is going thru has created hatred, which is out of control. The Mayor is not a leader.. he started the hatred, he didn't have to; it appears the council members will continue the hate by passing this bill..
My spoken testimoney was cut off before I could finish with what I believe could be a good solution:
1. Long term - work to use state and county land for affordable housing, work to build an infrastructure for water delivery from east Maui, and improve the permitting process so that building can plan appropriately
2. Short term - provide a $2000/ month subsidy for long term rentals of vacation rental units for working families. This would reduce the monthly rental cost, increase the availability of long term rentals immediately, and still allow TVR owners to keep their units. The TVR owner would sign up for 5 years and the renters would have to meet the same requirements as the property tax long term classification.
These two items would solve the problem today and in the future. It will take $$.
Dear Chair and Council Members,
My name is Sandra Kaestle and my husband and I have owned a STR in Kihei since 2013. We are opposed to Bill 9 as we strongly believe it will lead to an even greater decline in Maui tourism than is already happening. But we actually have questions for the Committee as we have searched and have been unable to find the answers.
1. With the zoning decisions in the last 5-7 of new residential building (off all types) on Maui, how many units were zoned for actual workforce housing, not letting the developer buy their way out of building actual units? We are most familiar with Makena Mauka which is to have 900 units and the developers are only being required to have 60 - 100 workforce housing units - why would you not follow your own laws and require more workforce housing units? Is the County law not 25% (that's 225 units) of the units being built are to be workforce housing? There is also the planned development in Wailea by Ledcor Maui, again 975 luxury homes - where the developer states they expect 90% to be seasonally occupied - and Maui County planning committee is only requiring 75 onsite workforce housing units another 75 are to be built offsite (we could find no details on where they are to be built) and the developer will buy themselves out of another 75 units. You, the housing and land use committee, have the power and responsibility right now to create brand new built for purpose work force housing - yet you DO NOT do that. Why is that?
2. In the last 12 months, how many condos in these targeted Minatoya complexes have come on the market? How many have sold to local residents in need of housing? Maui Now reported last week on the April and May real estate statistics and they are dismal for Maui County. a 40.7% drop in sales for April from 2024 to 2025 and a 24.5% drop in price. The average sales price for April 2024 was $727,000. May sales 2024 to 2025 also decreased and the overall total sales volume for sold condos in May fell 39.2% from 2024. These prices should be bringing in local buyers, why are they not buying them? What do these resort condos (built in the 1980's specifically to be a resort condo) not have that residents of Maui need? That is not going to change by enacting Bill 9, they were not built to be full time residential units for singles, couples, or families.
3. Where will your Hawaii school sports teams stay when they come to the island for festivities or tournaments - 12 rooms at the Grand Wailea or the Hyatt Ka'anapali? That's a lot of fundraising for the parents and students to do. These vacation condos serve a very important need on the islands. They can bunk together, spread out, cook or bring in food and enjoy the kitchens. Teams can all book at one condo resort and not be stressed about the exorbitant cost of lodging and needing to eat out every meal.
4. The same goes with families either local or from the mainland. People want to vacation on Maui, they want options for lodging that do not include hotels. A family of 5 does not want a child on the floor or a cot, they for sure do not want to have to book 2 hotel rooms. Why is the committee thinking of taking all of this away by banning STRs?
5. We often see mention of Barcelona, NYC or other cities that have taken action. Where action has started, it involves only banning VRBO or Air BnB or similar online rental booking operations, they have not taken over entire complexes built as resorts and banned those units from being operated as hotels. And these cities have set timelines many years out from when the laws were enacted. Why would the County of Maui not start there if they feel the need to move forward in removing STRs from the island?
6. How are leasehold properties impacted by Bill 9?
We do not support Bill 9. There are laws in place currently to require more workforce housing to be built yet the Council does not follow those laws. It makes no sense to take these existing resort properties, such as the Palms at Wailea managed by Outrigger Hotels, or the Maui Hill Resort, managed by Aston Hotels - and make them residential housing. Please tighten up your regulations, weed out the illegal rentals, stop AirBnB or similar outfits from renting a handful of units in an apartment setting. There are so many steps you can take to improve the housing situation on the island, Bill 9 is not one of them. Mahalo.
Correction to previous testimony: the Ma’alaea Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant illegally imports up to three pump truckloads of pathogen-laden activated sludge from a municipal treatment plant into the system per MONTH. Not per week, as was misstated before. Still an illegal discharge by DOBOR to a nearshore leach field that is not allowed by the UIC permit that only allows effluent from Harbor sources. Aloha
Testimony in Strong Support of a Ban on Short-Term Rentals in Maui
Title: Throwing Holy Water on Mā‘alaea
Aloha Chair and Councilmembers,
I submit this testimony in the spirit of aloha, accountability, and restoration. This is a call to take up the holy water of the law—not only the statutes in the books but the codes of honor publicly proclaimed by agencies, organizations, and individuals. The path to healing our communities and our coastlines begins here, and it begins with a ban on short-term rentals (STRs) across Maui.
Chapter 1: Jubilee for the Waters – DLNR’s Harbor Wastewater Plant Must Pay
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), through the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR), operates the Ma‘alaea Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant under a UIC permit allowing only treatment of effluent generated on-site. However, for years, this facility has quietly accepted up to three truckloads of activated sludge per week from a County of Maui municipal plant—an illegal act that increases pollution loading in Ma’alaea and directly violates their injection well permit.
This is not a technicality. It is a systemic, years-long breach of federal environmental law. The Clean Water Act and UIC rules are not guidelines. They are enforceable commitments—made not just to regulators but to the land and the sea.
The maximum penalty is $25,000 per day per violation. Just one illegal leach field over a 10-year period could yield over $91 million in potential fines. And those funds could immediately serve Maui:
• $15–$20 million to install UV disinfection at the Kahului Wastewater Reclamation Facility
• Infrastructure improvements at Kihei WWRF to achieve 100% R-1 reuse
• Expanded cesspool conversion grants for working families
Let this be our Jubilee—a year of ecological reckoning, debt cancellation, and the restoration of what is rightfully owed to our waters. DLNR’s own 2014 report (Maui’s Coral Reef Decline) cannot be taken seriously until the department addresses the contradiction of harboring chronic injection violations. Let every agency be subject to the same enforcement as every citizen.
Chapter 2: The Coral Contradiction – Maui Ocean Center Must Pay
We now turn to the Maui Ocean Center (MOC), operated by Coral World International, with their stated vision:
“To conserve and sustain Hawai‘i’s marine life for future generations through education and stewardship.”
This facility has long marketed itself as a beacon of marine education and reef conservation, yet it has been disclosed to the safe Drinking Water Branch in April 2025 to be the site of chronic UIC violations, discharging unapproved aquarium water treatment process effluent into the Triangle WWTP and injection wells while reporting only human domestic restroom influent for years. An enforcement investigation is currently underway by SDWB.
The Safe Drinking Water Branch penalty for this type of violation can be up to $50,000 per day. If the illegal process effluent comprising aquarium water treatment filter backwash and protein skimmer material has been happening for the entire estimated 10,000 days since the MOC opened in 1998, then the potential fine reaches $500 million—enough to fund a HI state cesspool conversion grant for 25,000 local households, fixing every high risk cesspool in the state to launch a new era of environmental justice for our island.
Under the Hawaiʻi Cesspool Compliance Pilot Grant Program (CPGP)—established by Act 153 (2022) and implemented under the DOH Wastewater Branch—eligible households were offered reimbursements up to $20,000 toward cesspool conversion or sewer connection, drawing from a $5 million fund on a first-come, first-served basis for Priority Level 1–2 areas .
The program launched on March 15, 2023, under HDOH’s oversight, with a strict 270‑day compliance window, requiring licensed-engineer design, DOH approval, and supporting inspections .
Deputy Director Kathleen Ho underscored the program’s importance: “This is truly an exciting program… provide a healthier environment for future generations” .
However, by mid-2025, all funds were exhausted, with approximately 225 households awarded, and a waiting list established. The framework for healing is in place. It would be so poetic and cool if Coral World funded this in a revolutionary act of accountability.
Statements from Coral World make it clear that the only way for them to stay true to their own morals is to pay the full UIC fine voluntarily:
“Prioritize the Ocean. Our foremost commitment is to the oceans. We wholeheartedly champion and support marine life.”
South African-born Morris Kahn, the founder of Coral World International, is estimated to have a net worth of approximately $1 billion, according to public sources such as Forbes and Celebrity Net Worth.
We ask only this: live up to your own words. Pay the fine. Restore the trust. Align your actions with your values.
Let Tapani Vuori, General Manager of MOC and signatory of the UIC permit in violation, be remembered not for the infraction but for the act of redemption. If he helps to convince Coral World International to render full penalty fine payment and the state of Hawaii allocates UIC penalty resources toward $25,000 upgrade grants for Maui households, he will step into a sacred role—not merely as a manager, but as a redeemer. With full support of Governor Green, the grants could start going out by the end of 2025.
The Hawai‘i Department of Health’s Safe Drinking Water Branch (SDWB), in coordination with EPA Region 9, enforces underground injection control (UIC) violations through Consent Agreements and Final Orders (CAFOs) under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. § 300h–2(c)) and HAR Chapter 11-23. These legally binding restitution agreements allow regulators to impose monetary penalties—up to $25,000 or $50,000 per day, depending on severity—and can direct those penalties into Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) such as cesspool conversion grants or wastewater treatment upgrades. The CAFO process includes public notice and comment under 40 CFR § 22.45, a negotiated compliance schedule, and enforceable reporting obligations. Funds from such agreements may be allocated toward projects that directly remediate environmental harm in the impacted community, as seen in prior Hawai‘i enforcement actions. This mechanism provides a lawful pathway to transform fines into targeted restitution.
Tapani Vuori, General Manager of Maui Ocean Center, has served as a member of the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s Cesspool Conversion Working Group since at least 2021, a body tasked with guiding the statewide transition from cesspools to environmentally responsible alternatives pursuant to Act 125 (2017). His participation places him in a position of direct influence over state policy, funding priorities, and public education on wastewater impacts—further underscoring the urgency of full compliance with his facility’s own injection well obligations.
Chapter 3: Save MVA – A Reckoning for the Soul of Mā‘alaea
Mā‘alaea is a mirror of Maui. The fight unfolding there is not just a local skirmish—it is a signal of the deeper crisis we face island-wide. When housing is chopped into daily rentals for passive profit, it no longer serves the people—it serves capital. This is not innovation. It is extraction.
The only way to accumulate excess is to take more than one gives. That is not wisdom. That is imbalance. And when that imbalance is centered on shelter, the result is displacement, despair, and spiritual decay.
Donors volunteering their time for years for the Ma‘alaea Village Association (MVA) have quietly endured personal tragedies—lives lost, healthcare denied, careers ended—all traceable to policies aligned with political candidates from the American continent that have been funded by an MVA STR profiteer and MVA officer. These aren’t vague political talking points. These are real-world, life-altering consequences suffered by volunteers who serve their community, while watching others extract wealth with no accountability.
What are we to make of this moral inversion?
We affirm that those who work, who build, who serve—are the true foundation of Maui. And those who sit on idle STR investments, extracting income while contributing nothing to the commons—are not stewards. They are colonizers of convenience.
Let us speak clearly: this is not a class war. It is a battle between people with class and those without.
To have class is to maintain balance in every transaction: to give and take in measure, to uplift others when you rise. To lack class is to sit on hoarded wealth while others sleep in their cars. And that is what passive income has become—a form of spiritual kleptomania.
We issue this challenge: let every STR owner in Mā‘alaea—indeed, across all of Maui—rent their unit long term at truly affordable rates to the applicant who can afford it with the lowest credit score and the most urgent housing need. Offer it not for praise, but as a way to unburden your karma. If the afterlife is real, then wealth hoarded now becomes labor owed later. Why not settle the debt in this life, where it can still help someone?
⸻
Conclusion: Holy Water and the Rule of Law
Let this STR ban be our act of holy water: not poured in anger, but in cleansing.
The laws exist. The mission statements exist. The permits, codes, and public promises exist. If each individual, each agency, and each corporation simply follows the laws they wrote for themselves, we could resolve nearly all of Maui’s wastewater and housing crises in this generation.
The rule of law by this Council—here in this occupied nation—must be followed like the word of God. And the statements made by our institutions must be honored as sacred covenants, or else be stripped away as fraud.
Aloha
Testimony Opposing Bill 9: Protecting Maui’s Economy, Livelihoods, and Community
Aloha Chair and Council Members,
I stand before you today not only to oppose Bill 9, but to sound an alarm on the unintended consequences this legislation will have on the heart and soul of our island — our people.
Supporters of Bill 9 argue that converting short-term rentals into long-term housing will create affordability for our local working families. But I ask you to look deeper — beyond the surface of good intentions — and see the devastating reality this bill would bring upon the very people it claims to help.
There is no guarantee this will create affordable housing.
What this bill will create is uncertainty. Private property owners forced to convert their short-term rentals will not necessarily choose to rent affordably — many will simply sell. And who will be able to afford those purchases? Will it be the young local couple starting a family? Or will it be out-of-state investors with cash in hand, ready to snatch up newly available inventory, driving prices even higher? The market will remain speculative and inaccessible for our working families, as it has been for decades. Bill 9 offers no mechanism to ensure affordability — it offers only hope wrapped in policy, while real consequences unfold.
It will devastate our local economy — and our people.
Maui’s economy is intricately woven into the tourism industry. While visitors may stay in hotels, thousands also choose legally permitted vacation rentals. These visitors fuel our small businesses, our shops, our restaurants, our tour operators, our farmers, our fisherman, our artists, and our cultural practitioners. But beyond that, there’s an entire community behind the scenes — the aunties and uncles who clean homes, the cousins who mow the lawns, the family-run property management companies, the local handymen, electricians, plumbers, and small contractors who depend on these short-term rentals for steady, dignified work.
What happens when those jobs disappear?
The very working class this bill claims to serve will be left with fewer opportunities. These are not faceless corporations — these are our neighbors, our friends, our ʻohana who have built their livelihoods maintaining and servicing these properties. The ripple effects will reach every corner of our island. Fewer tourists mean fewer jobs. Fewer jobs mean more families struggling to survive. And as families struggle, they will be forced to leave the island in search of opportunity elsewhere — exactly the opposite of what we all want.
Tourism numbers will decline, but hotels cannot absorb that loss.
Visitors who prefer short-term vacation rentals often travel in larger groups, for extended stays, or for family celebrations. Many would not come if limited only to hotel options. Bill 9 threatens to reduce overall visitor spending, directly impacting our already fragile economy still recovering from wildfires, rising costs of living, and the global pandemic.
We should not trade one crisis for another.
Yes, affordable housing is a real and urgent need. But Bill 9 is not a solution. It simply shifts the burden, destabilizes our economy, and jeopardizes the livelihoods of thousands of hardworking local families. We need thoughtful, creative solutions that expand affordable housing without sacrificing the backbone of our local economy.
The aunties, uncles, and small business owners of Maui deserve better than a bill that gambles with their future. We deserve policies that uplift our community, not ones that dismantle it.
Please, I urge you: vote NO on Bill 9. Let us come together as a community and find real solutions that protect both our ʻohana and our economy. We have more than enough land that the county and state own. Why not try: building there to start, while it will also irrigate the land to prevent more natural wild fires? Just a thought.
Mahalo for your time and consideration.
My name is Ricky Lew and I am writing to oppose Bill 9. I work as Resident Maintenance Manager at the Makani Sands Condominiums, which is on the Minatoya List. If Bill 9 is enacted, I will not only lose my job but also lose my on-site housing, which is part of my compensation package. Please vote against this Bill 9.
I am writing in support of phasing out short term rentals. Having recently traveled to Europe, I see cities like Barcelona declaring that the negative impact to the collective is far worse than the profit of the Individual. I am a resident of Maui, and a renter. Affordable housing for families is really hard here, and without stable housing it’s hard to feel safe or secure or make a life that includes pets and your kids staying in the same school. This problem won’t be solved with band aid solutions and this bill is the answer to a long term answer. While a few may lose out on profit, many more will benefit overall. Profit is never more important than people, and profit is the only reason it would make sense to keep STRs as is.
Sincerely,
Hollie Bearden
Kahului Maui
The only thing Bill 9 does is create more UNAFFORDABLE housing.. and end jobs of those in the tourism industry, making people that work in the industry not be able to afford their rent, and be put on unemployment - Bill 9 is a loser bill.. everyone loses.. there are no winners except for those who live out of state and want condo's here on Maui and can afford the exorbitant Condo dues.. this bill should be called the more UNAFFORDABLE housing bill 9
Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, and Committee Members,
My name is Kimberly Harper, and I own a short-term rental property in Maui. I am writing today to express my deep concern and strong opposition to the proposed legislation to phase out more than 7,000 vacation rentals.
After reviewing the comprehensive economic analysis conducted by UHERO, I am deeply concerned about the severe economic impacts this measure would have on our community.
My biggest concern has to do with unemployment, poverty and homelessness and I feel that if this proposition were to pass, we would see more of this on Maui. At a time when Maui’s community is still recovering from the devastating wildfires of 2023, we cannot afford to implement policies that would further destabilize the economy.
Owning a vacation rental has not been easy. We’ve faced huge maintenance costs, special assessments, and massive increases in insurance after the fires. These aren’t luxuries — they’re costs that ensure the property remains safe and functional. Short term rental income helps cover those costs while supporting local workers.
I’ve worked hard to be a responsible and community-oriented owner and I employ local service providers — cleaners, maintenance techs — many of whom have become family over the years. With tourism being down right now, they are struggling, just like in the early days of Covid.
We all know there is a shortage of housing in Maui and other parts of the country, and so let’s work together to come up with solutions and not take away from something that is already working, that adds financial stability to Maui.
I urge the Council to work with owners like me to find a fair and balanced path forward — one that protects local jobs, supports the economy, instead of phasing us out completely.
Mahalo for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Harper
Luana Kai, Unit B310
I’m 78 years old and have lived and worked in Lahaina for over four decades.
For 43 years, I’ve run a family-owned, legal short-term vacation rental and real estate business.
This is not just my livelihood—it’s my life’s work.
It has supported local employees, local vendors, and countless local families who rely on tourism to survive.
After the mayor’s press conference announcing his STVR ban, with tourism already collapsing, I contacted you and other council members and begged you to act quickly on his proposed ban, warning that delayed action would crash bookings, leave condos unsold, tank property values by hundreds of thousands, and shutter businesses.
Every word I feared has come true—worse than I imagined. Bookings have evaporated, condos sit empty, property values where I sell have plummeted by $300,000 each or more, and businesses are closing.
I’ve recently lost two employees of 18+ years.
Both local women with families - with children, parents, grandparents they supported through their work for my company.
I lie awake terrified I’ll lose my home, my savings, my purpose.
And yet, our county government did nothing. For all these months since the press conference, while we bled, Maui County sat idle.
Mayor Bissen says he’s fighting for “our people.”
But apparently, that doesn’t include the 7,000 legal STVR owners or the thousands of workers—cleaners, landscapers, contractors—who depend on us.
We followed every law. We paid every tax. We built our lives around what the County allowed.
Tourism, 40% of our economy, is dying, hurting all residents. And now we are being blamed for a housing crisis created by decades of failed planning.
This ban will not help the victims of Lahaina’s fire.
Their suffering is profound, but this ban won’t help them—it targets legal businesses like mine, deepening Maui’s pain.
Turning legal condos into empty units doesn’t create affordable housing.
These properties were never meant for families. They don’t meet basic residential standards.
What’s worse is the growing sentiment that people like me and my clients deserve this hardship—that our losses somehow balance out someone else’s.
That we’re outsiders, profiteers, the problem. This cruel thinking pits neighbor against neighbor and tears our community apart.
I’ve been here longer than many pushing this ban, yet I’m treated like an outsider.
We are not scapegoats. We are not villains. We are Maui residents—just like you.
We want to be part of the solution, but this bill only creates more pain.
This bill simply destroys more lives. Mayor, council, see our desperation!
You’re abandoning over half this county, ignoring our legal investments and our financial devastation that this proposal has created.
I urge you: reject Bill 9. Focus on real solutions—fund affordable housing, support fire victims, fast-track workforce housing.
But do not let the mayor’s ban erase 43 years of honest work and legal investment.
Please—do not abandon us. Do not divide us. Choose leadership. Choose fairness. Choose unity.
Aloha,
My name is Michael Cicchino, and I am a proud resident and registered voter of Maui who survived the Lahaina wildfire. On that devastating day along Front Street, I was caught in the fire and was extraordinarily fortunate to escape with my life. This traumatic experience has only strengthened my commitment to support our community’s recovery, resilience, and future.
Having endured that catastrophe and the subsequent hardships—including losing my rental residence, my businesses, and living in hotels for over a year—I wish to share my perspective regarding the proposed ban on short-term rentals (STRs).
**The Economic Importance of Short-Term Rentals**
Numerous studies underscore the critical role that short-term rentals play in our local economy. According to a 2019 report by *Airbnb*, these rentals generated billions of dollars in economic activity worldwide and supported millions of jobs in tourist-dependent regions. Removing them would result in significant income losses for local families, small businesses, and workers in hospitality, cleaning, management, and service sectors. The Hawaii Tourism Authority’s 2021 report highlights that tourism—including accommodations such as STRs—is the backbone of our economy. Curtailing these options could reduce visitor numbers, hurting restaurants, retail, and hospitality businesses, leading to layoffs and wage reductions.
Furthermore, research published in the *Journal of Tourism Economics* in 2020 found that restrictions on short-term rentals in popular destinations often lead to decreased tourism visitation and economic downturns. These disruptions threaten the livelihoods of many who depend on tourism for their income.
**Resident Preferences for Housing**
In addition to the economic argument, surveys and studies reveal that residents prefer living in single-family homes rather than condos. The *Hawaii Housing Planning Study* (2020) indicates that the majority of residents value the privacy, space, and community involvement associated with standalone houses. Moreover, a 2019 survey published in the *Hawaii Journal of Social Sciences* found that many residents express a desire for detached housing, citing concerns over noise, privacy, and over-crowding associated with condo living.
This preference suggests that banning STRs—which often encompass entire homes—would not align with local housing desires and could restrict housing options for families seeking a more private, stable environment.
**Potential Consequences of an STR Ban**
Banning short-term rentals could unintentionally worsen the housing crisis, drive up housing costs, and impact our overall quality of life. It could also diminish our tourism economy, which is vital for our community’s survival and recovery post-wildfire. Many residents prefer and advocate for responsible development rather than outright bans, which may harm the economic and social fabric of our community.
**A Call for Balanced and Responsible Solutions**
Rather than implementing a sweeping ban, I urge policymakers to pursue balanced, sustainable strategies—such as incentivizing the development of affordable, permanent housing, while managing STRs responsibly. Maui has land and resources to develop more affordable housing, especially with proper planning and community involvement. Good examples come from projects with the right incentives—building homes that meet local needs while supporting our economy.
**Final Thoughts**
While I understand the concerns some community members have about STRs, the evidence suggests that their elimination could have broad, negative impacts—economically, socially, and culturally. Our community needs flexible, responsible solutions that support both residents and visitors, ensuring Maui’s recovery and resilience.
Mahalo for considering my perspective. I hope we can work together to find solutions that serve everyone—residents, visitors, and future generations.
Mahalo,
Michael Cicchino
Testimony in Support of Bill 9 – Addressing the Misuse of Apartment Zoning and the False Narrative of Past “Benefits”
Aloha Chair and Members of the Housing and Land Use Committee,
My name is Renee P Kaiama and I write in strong support of Bill 9, which aims to restore integrity to Maui’s apartment zoning and ensure that our land serves the needs of residents, not speculative interests.
Over the past 30 years, some have profited tremendously under our current zoning framework—particularly realtors, developers, and short-term rental (STVR) owners who have exploited apartment districts for commercial gain. But we must not confuse private profit with public benefit. If this zoning regime were truly beneficial to the people of Maui, we would not be facing a housing crisis of this magnitude. Instead, we have widespread displacement, a loss of long-term rentals, and entire neighborhoods hollowed out to make room for visitors.
What this tells us is clear: the current system is not working.
The evidence is overwhelming:
• Maui’s median home prices continue to soar far beyond what working families can afford.
• Long-time residents and Native Hawaiian families are being priced off-island or into homelessness.
• Apartment-zoned properties—originally intended to provide housing—have been quietly converted into de facto hotel operations without community input or proper regulation.
And yet, those who have benefitted from this imbalance now argue that the system shouldn’t change. They claim that removing short-term rental rights from apartment zoning will harm their bottom line. But it is not the County’s kuleana to protect investor ROI while our local families suffer from overcrowding, displacement, and insecurity.
Profitability for a small sector of owners and brokers is not a metric of policy success. It is a sign of a regulatory failure—a failure that Bill 9 finally begins to correct. For too long, we’ve allowed speculative use of housing to supersede its intended purpose: shelter for residents.
Bill 9 is not about punishment—it is about realignment. It is not a radical move—it is a long-overdue course correction. It reaffirms that land zoned for apartments must serve housing purposes, not function as de facto hotels under a misapplied designation. It reflects our obligation to serve the greater good and to repair decades of imbalance.
We acknowledge that many built their livelihoods within this flawed system. But now, we must ask: At what cost? If the last 30 years have taught us anything, it’s that leaving land use policy in the hands of market forces and speculative incentives leads to community harm and systemic inequality.
Bill 9 is a step toward rebalancing that equation. It protects the long-term wellbeing of our island, our neighborhoods, and our people.
I urge you to pass Bill 9 and stand on the side of sustainable housing, responsible zoning, and public trust.
Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.
Renee P Kaiama
Broker/Owner
Maui Real Estate 808
Greetings Chair,Vice Chair and Council members,
I thank you for this important meeting and Bill 9 as it reflects the urgent importance of living standards and respect for residents of Maui versus those eating up the resources and space with their colonial entitlement occupations. I support Bill 9. The long term residents are the heart of the community. I am a settler from the continent and have been here for only 14 years, I do not own anything and rent with my partner who is from the islands. We work in the community, we give to our community, learn from our community and are accountable to our community. My contribution to Maui doesn’t just come from the money I give to restaurants or stores or small businesses, or my taxes but comes from the boots on the ground, the hands in the soil, and the accountability that I offer everyday that I live here. It is so clearly entitled supremacy I read and when I listen to the occupied owners of the STRʻs. They think they are Kapalua and somehow they made it a place. Somehow they think their money is the community. It is horrific as the continuation of predominantly American occupiers think they are what makes Hawaii work. I know that local families do own STRʻs and this income supports their families. I know that solutions to housing are going to hurt some people but the majority of people who own do NOT want to live here and are not solutions to the massive crisis that Maui residents face everyday.
As far as Bill 9 I do have questions, the amendments made on June 3rd to make this go into effect 5 years from now. This bill needs to go into effect much sooner as in 5 years there is a devastation effect to Hawaii at large with the lack of housing and the detrimental effects of colonial occupation for tourism. I understand there are complications for all these owners that think they deserve to take up space because they bought in an illegally occupied nation. Yet 5 years seems way too long given the dire circumstance of housing needs. I also question the stated amendment reading “Clarifies that validly existing time share units or time share plans are exempt from being phased out;” how is it possible that these time shares are given exemptions from phase out? Given the issues with overuse of water, the diaspora, homeless disaster, illegal occupation, Hawaiian homelands still not being awarded, why would these STRʻs be given preferential treatment? Why are there exemptions given to them versus the actual people of Hawaii that have not been given any exceptions for land and housing that has been taken from them. The days of giving colonial pleasures exceptions over local families' living has come to end. I would also hope that the council continues to place restrictions on neighborhood owned vacation rental houses to restore a sense of place for the people who live here and the safety for the children.
I understand that the taxes and all the things give money but the fact is with that comes entitlement. The residents of this place cannot continue to be second-class citizens. I know there are good people who live here that live in other nations and that they love Maui. Yet the majority of what this brings is the contribution to how things work such as, making the prices skyrocket, the beaches overcrowded, the community their servants, the water disappear, the traffic unbearable, maintenance of homelessness and the diaspora of local families. I ask how many trees have they planted for the native ecosystem, how many streams have they worked to protect, how many teachers have they thanked, how many families have they helped to rise, how many local neighbors do they know, how many legislative sessions have they stood with local families? These are the differences of occupation owners versus people living in a place. The short term rentals are houses that should be for families that live here. Long term families should not be without housing so out of town people can come occupy when they or their friends like. The data is in the short term rentals and Minatoya list needs to be dealt with. I am thankful for the Maui County council and the Mayor for standing for the people. I support Bill 9 and stand with the people of Lahaina Strong, Lahaina Community Land trust, Maui Housing Hui, HAPA, and the other countless living and past residents of Maui and the need for housing to remain accessible and community owned. Phase out these STRʻs and if the owners are not happy that is ok. Local families are not happy, nor consenting, or thriving from all the years of illegal and continued suffering because of American occupation.
I support Bill 9. Housing for the community first and now.
Thank you Pahnelopi McKenzie
Aloha Esteemed Council Members,
I’m an interfaith minister here on Maui. I strongly support Bill 9 and the full phasing out of STVRs on the Minatoya list—with no carve-outs. Your vote to pass and enforce this bill will have lasting benefits for our entire island community.
Over two-thirds of my income comes from the visitor industry, so I understand the concerns about tourism. But I also know what a real crisis looks like—and we are in one.
A crisis is a turning point. I see families—sometimes 15 people—crowded into two-bedroom units, working multiple jobs and still unable to secure adequate housing. Others sleep in cars or surf couches, doing their best just to stay here. This is a crisis of home.
The Minatoya list was never meant to be permanent. It was an exception—and now is the time to correct it. Phasing it out will return desperately needed housing to local residents.
We’re also in urgent need of doctors and healthcare workers—professionals who might come and stay if housing were available.
In a true crisis, you do everything you can to help. That moment is now.
with aloha,
Rev Julienne Givot
96753
As someone who was born and raised on Maui and then moved to the mainland due to housing costs and opportunities as a young adult, I am in support of Bill 9. Growing up, the running joke was that the young people of Maui would not be able to afford housing. How is that sustainable? How are Maui residents supposed to live their lives competing with tourists for housing? I understand that when these properties were purchased as secondary housing that it was legal, but just because it was legal doesn't mean it is just. I support Maui residents being able to access more housing. I support Bill 9.
I am writing in opposition to Bill 9. And I think it's important for the Council to recognize we are not the villains in this story. And we have in the past, and continue to support the people of Maui in a myriad of ways. I present here, another perspective.
Supporters of Bill 9 continually want to paint us as the big bad wolf, and a bunch of rich, greedy people. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Owners of most vacation rental condos are lucky enough to break even these days. And essentially all the money we spend as owners, stays on Maui, as does the money spent by our guests.
We have owned our property since 2006, and in that time, one of the things we’ve done every year, is offer our home in a charity silent auction for a non-profit. We have always felt strongly about giving back, and this was a way to share the beauty of Maui with others as well.
After the August 2023 fires, we decided that a whole different level of giving was required. Within 12 hours of the fire in Lahaina, it became quite evident that people were not going to be able to return to their homes. I immediately jumped on Facebook where I joined in several conversations where we were trying to secure housing for people. I connected with a family of 4 and did not hesitate to open my home (vacation rental property) to them at no charge. I told them that they were welcome to stay as long as necessary, as our future guests had cancelled, when the state and county were discouraging people from coming to the island.
Then, as soon as drop off locations were established like the Sheraton and Honokowai, once again we didn’t hesitate to jump in and help. For two straight weeks, every single day, we drove from the South side to Costco and filled our car until there wasn’t an inch of space. We would then drive to locations on the west side and drop off donations of food and other essentials. Whatever was posted on the “Things We Need” lists online. We did this all day long – at our own expense.
Then came the Facebook pages that were created so people could start an Amazon gift page for themselves for items they needed. For an additional year, I would visit these pages and purchase items for strangers several days a week. Again, at my own expense.
So when people call us greedy, treat us as if we are horrible people, with no feelings ourselves, and treat us as though we’ve been doing something illegal, when we absolutely have not, it’s like a dagger to my heart. I just feel it’s important that people remember we’re humans with needs too. And we’re not what they make us out to be.
There must be a better compromise then what is currently being presented. I would urge you and the other Council members to try to come up with that better solution that treats all of us with the respect WE ALL deserve.
Thank you for your time.
Aloha, my name is Lucy Reardon and I am in support of Bill 9. I am a lifetime Lahaina resident, and I lost the home I was raising my children in on August 8th 2023. I am in support of this bill, because I have seen first hand how short term rentals affect our community. My family has yet to find stable housing, my children have had to move 6 times, and each time it’s time to start a new year at school we have to figure out what part of the island we will be on to figure out what school we can sign up for. I am currently living in a condo that was being used as an Air BNB, our lease is up and we sat down and had an interesting conversation with the realtor that manages it. In her eyes “local” people cannot live in condos, “local” people don’t want to, and “local” people can’t afford them.. all of these statements are false. Us “local” people would LOVE to live in a home they can call there own, where there babies can have a bed to sleep on every night. Local people can definitely afford them, if they weren’t all owned by Tom, Dick, and Jerry in Colorado. And us local people do not owe them nothing. They WANT to own 5 condos somewhere they don’t live and CHOOSE to post them as short term rentals. Meanwhile I NEED To find a place for my babies to sleep. Needs are essential for survival and a persons well being, someone wants something to simply enhance something that is not necessary. Needs are basic requirements like food, shelter, and healthcare. While wants come from entertainment and luxury. Why should you be entertained in luxury while the people that are from this land suffer?
I am Karan Marsh, retired California State employee. My husband Steve, retired San Jose fire fighter. We strongly oppose Bill 9 as it harms Maui residents and does not solve the housing problem.
Per the Maui Community Plan, in the 1970s, Maui County asked for and received Federal funds to attract tourists via these accommodations to strengthen the economics of this beautiful island via the Kihei 701 Plan. All documented within County records. Since the 70s, we have legally stewarded our properties and promoted the Aloha spirit increasing island revenue by billions.
The State approved the continued STR business license at our address. The State and County approved our condo purchase with the continued STR business. Bank of Hawaii charged us Condotel mortgage rates. What compensation are you prepared to pay for this taking of our business? Last hearing, someone recommended increasing taxes on investment properties. Tenants, you need to protest such an increase, so your rent is not increased to cover that cost. If Tenants want lower rent, County needs to lower property taxes.
Maui’s 2026-Operating-Budget sets aside almost $67 million to bankroll countywide residential projects and infrastructure. In 2019, Maui purchased an Affordable Housing Plan which documented new complexes with 6,371 affordable Maui homes. If you eliminate legal STR condos, will you push visitors into illegal neighborhood STR homes?
Commission Members, we all have wasted too much time, blood, sweat and tears on Bill 9. We’d rather avoid litigation as much as you. Stop throwing good money after this bad idea. Finish the developments. Convert malls, buildings and unused properties into loving homes.
If this measure goes through, we will move permanently into our Wailea Ekahi condo. We will do our very best to support the current residents, which Bill 9 severely penalizes as it turns a blind eye on Maui’s small businesses. Proponents of Bill 9 wish remaining tourists to stay at the expensive hotels which continue to pay slave wages to their employees. If you think STR profits go offshore, where would profits for long-term rental go? BTW, there are rarely STR profits. Hotel profits go offshore.
Thank you for this opportunity to oppose Bill 9 as it harms Maui residents and does not solve the housing problem.