Missouri legislators meet at Springfield Expedia facility to tout short-term rental bill
A proposal to protect short-term residential rentals could follow the road paved for legislation enabling ride-hailing services.
Several local lawmakers, including Sen. Jay Wasson and Rep. Sonya Anderson, joined House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, and Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, at the west Springfield Expedia facility, 5000 W. Kearney St., on Friday.
They gathered to hear Matthew Curtis, senior director of global government affairs and public policy for HomeAway, and William Shoehigh, a lobbyist for Expedia, make their case for a bill they say would protect the short-term rental industry in Missouri.
Services such as Airbnb and HomeAway allow homeowners to lease rooms to others for short stays. For instance, these services could allow a couple to rent a room for a weekend getaway or reserve a week's worth of beachfront property time for a honeymoon.
The legislation, filed by Wasson, R-Nixa, and Anderson, R-Springfield, would block cities and counties from creating new ordinances to limit a person's ability to rent their property. It also specifies that guests are required to pay the appropriate taxes and sets requirements for retaining records and notifying guests about the taxes they owe.
Wasson and former state Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, sponsored similar legislation last year.
Florida and Arizona have similar laws on the books allowing HomeAway and Airbnb-type rentals.
Shoehigh said he was only aware of two Missouri municipalities that passed ordinances to limit companies like Airbnb: Maplewood, a St. Louis County suburb that later rescinded its rule; and Hermann, a Missouri River town known for its wine and German heritage, where short-term leasers must obtain permits from the city.
The push in Missouri would pre-empt other cities that might limit the short-term rental economy in the future. Springfield and Kansas City are mulling some form of regulation related to vacation-type rentals.
Municipal laws on the books prior to Jan. 1, 2018, could still be enforced, according to the current bill. Negotiations over the legislative language are ongoing and the bill is subject to change, Anderson said.
The bill would cap the number of guests and guest rooms at four per property and would not affect existing ordinances related to public health, traffic, nuisances, inspections, lodging taxes and zoning.
Proponents say short-term renters positively impact local economies.
Shoehigh said Airbnb has about 6,000 short-term landlords in Missouri, with HomeAway at about 4,000.
An Expedia spokesman said in an email that the "whole-home vacation rental ecosystem supports nearly 3,000 full-time, permanent jobs" in Missouri.
"Much of this economic activity occurs in areas traditionally beyond tourist districts, meaning vacation rentals bring tourist spending to areas that typically do not enjoy such tourism economic prosperity," said Philip Minardi, director of policy communications for Expedia, which is poised to hire its 1,000th Springfield employee this year.
"In the end, vacation rentals have been an option for families and homeowners in the state for generations," Minardi continued. "This bill preserves that long-standing tradition."
The bill's proponents acknowledged that they could face opposition from hoteliers who don't want more competition.
"We're not cannibalizing hotels," Shoehigh said. "... We're not necessarily drawing the same customers."
Shoehigh and Anderson said individual property owners from the Lake of the Ozarks expressed concerns at a lengthy House hearing last week.
"It was mainly from the Lake area, most of the opposition," Anderson said. "And all we're trying to do is put guardrails in place just to ensure that any regulations are reasonable and not prohibitive."
Travel companies such as Expedia (which owns vacation rental companies HomeAway and VRBO) stand to benefit from a statewide law that could foster more trips.
The Springfield Expedia branch invested $7,500 in Missouri politics in 2016, giving $5,000 to the Missouri Republican Party and $2,500 to the Missouri Senate Campaign Committee, according to the Missouri Ethics Commission. The Expedia headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, donated $5,000 to the Missouri Democratic State Committee and $2,500 to the House Republican Campaign Committee in 2016.
On the first day of the legislation session, Richardson spoke in favoring of making Missouri a friendlier place of operation for "disruptive technologies" such as those offered by Uber and Airbnb.
Legislation authorizing a statewide framework for ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft was hustled through the House and must be approved by the Senate before it heads to the desk of Gov. Eric Greitens.