The Honolulu City Committee on Zoning and Planning advanced Bill 62 (2025) CD1 on Oct. 16, which makes narrow amendments to bed-and-breakfast home and transient vacation unit registration rules adopted previously under ordinance 24-14 and ordinance 25-2.

The bill’s CD1 drafts color figure replacements and restores provisions that were inadvertently omitted when the city replaced Article 5 of the land use ordinance, the chair said. The committee voted to report the bill out for passage on third reading after brief public testimony and discussion with the Department of Planning and Permitting.

Kelly Lee of OSTRA testified remotely in support of the bill’s purpose but asked the committee to remove a provision that treats any “change in operator” as a trigger for a full registration and a new $1,000 fee. “The current law requires a full registration and a new $1,000 fee every time the operator or point of contact changes even when the owner stays the same,” Lee said. She argued the owner is the legally responsible party and that requiring full reregistration for simple personnel changes “imposes unnecessary costs on compliant owners and creates duplicate work for city staff, all without improving enforcement.”

Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, director of the Department of Planning and Permitting, told the committee the $1,000 fee covers administrative costs: “Reviewing different reports and registrations, etcetera. So when there’s a new operator, it’s the same exact process. So the same fee of $1,000 should apply to a new operator.” When asked whether a lower fee such as $500 would be possible, Apuna said it would be “unfair for any new owner” because the department performs the same review for a new operator.

Committee members discussed whether the bill’s phrase “or any change in the operator” should be narrowed to distinguish a personnel shift within the same operating company from the introduction of a wholly new operator. Councilmember Okimoto Tupelo said the committee “hears both sides” and asked DPP staff to confirm what paperwork is required when operator names or titles change.

The chair noted the bill’s title and purpose clause are narrow and said other substantive changes to short-term rental rules would require a separate bill. With no objections, the chair recommended the CD1 be reported out for passage on third reading.

Clarifying details recorded at the hearing include the $1,000 registration/renewal fee currently charged when an operator change triggers registration; the committee discussion focused on whether that trigger should be limited to a new operator (new company/owner) rather than routine personnel changes.

The committee did not record a formal roll-call vote on the floor for this recommendation; the chair’s recommendation was accepted with no recorded objections during the session.