Committee discusses short-term rental policies Oct. 22, 2024 Rep. Adam Bowling, R-Middlesboro, asks a question about Airbnb paying local taxes during Tuesday’s Interim Joint Committee on Local Government meeting. A high-resolution photo can be found here. FRANKFORT — Short-term rental regulation is a hot topic in cities – big and small – across Kentucky. On Tuesday, the Interim Joint Committee on Local Government heard from a lobbyist for Airbnb, a short-term rental company, on policy ideas for the upcoming 2025 legislative session. Jason Underwood, president of Capitol Strategies, said Airbnb wants the legislature to consider banning conditional use permit requirements for short-term rentals. He also proposed what he calls a “tenants’ rights” bill. “If you live in an area that says you can rent your home out as a short-term rental, you should be able to. If you live in an apartment, you should be able to rent that apartment out and make some money on that as well,” Underwood said. An in-progress draft of the proposed bill would prohibit local governments from restricting a tenant from offering a property as a short-term rental if the property owner has granted the tenant permission. Underwood said this could allow renters to make some extra income and possibly save toward buying a house. On conditional use permits, Underwood said the process is inequitable and can be difficult to navigate, especially for immigrants and people of color. “If you bought a house and you applied for a permit first and then I lived next door and apply for a permit second, if you beat me to the punch, you win,” Underwood said. “I could not use my house if it was next to yours because there’d be a conditional use permit ban on it … so picking winners and losers is not what we want to see happen here.” Although Airbnb wants to make some changes to current statute, Underwood said the company is not against local governments creating ordinances about noise and other issues. “If we do short-term rental reform, localities can still regulate parking issues, noise complaints, any violations like that,” Underwood said. “This is not trying to give a free ticket to short-term rentals to do whatever they want, but we don’t want to use zoning to infringe upon the property rights of legal homeowners in Kentucky.” v During discussion, Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville, asked if any of the proposed policies would impact neighborhood associations. “If you have an HOA, this doesn’t impact that,” Underwood said. Committee co-chair Rep. Randy Bridges, R-Paducah, and Rep. Adam Bowling, R-Middlesboro, both raised concerns about Airbnb paying local taxes. “I’ve got locals that are reaching out to me saying, ‘Hey, this is a problem. We’ve not been paid since 2022.’” Bowling said. Underwood explained that there is a not a tax payment issue in large population centers like Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green and Owensboro. There is litigation underway regarding smaller cities and the best way to get those taxes to those cities following the passage of House Bill 8 from the 2022 legislative session. “There were some that wanted to be paid quarterly, some wanted to be paid annually.” Underwood said. “There was no document, I think it’s called the source of knowledge, that we could accurately ascertain what we owed these districts. So, we’ve asked the legislature to amend that (law) to include centralized payment like they do in Tennessee to make it easier for us to pay.” Bowling said he “hopes a solution can be worked out quickly.” In response, Underwood said he is aware of another group working on a bill for 2025 to fix the issue. After the taxes discussion, Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, said the regulations in Louisville mainly impact non-owner-occupied short-term rentals in residential areas, and the ordinance had bipartisan support. She said Louisville did a study and found non-owner-occupied short-term rentals had increased calls for service for LMPD for noise complaints and other issues. “We didn’t see that whenever we had owners at the property, because then folks sort of have this incentive to make sure that it’s not becoming a public nuisance or becoming a problem, Chambers Armstrong said. “… I appreciate your perspective, but I have a lot of concerns about what you’re proposing.” The Kentucky General Assembly cannot take action on legislation until the 2025 legislative session begins on Jan. 7. The next Interim Joint Committee on Local Government meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Nov. 12. For more information, visit legislature.ky.gov. The post Committee discusses short-term rental policies appeared first on The Lexington Times.