Weekly Regulatory Briefing (48)

🏡Top Stories This Week

• Tompkins County, NY: Tompkins County has opened registration for short-term rentals, with owners required to sign up by February 28 under a new law passed earlier this year.

🌍 Regional Highlights

• Arizona: Sedona’s attempt to block short-term rentals in mobile home parks was struck down by the Arizona Court of Appeals, which ruled that mobile homes are dwelling units protected under state STR law.
• California: A growing wave of tourism tax hikes is reshaping U.S. travel economics as states prepare for 2026, with California joining Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, Michigan, and New York in raising lodging taxes to support local services and tourism infrastructure.
• Florida: Florida counties are turning to Deckard Technologies to improve short-term rental compliance as unregistered vacation rentals continue to drain tax revenue and complicate enforcement.
• Florida lawmakers are advancing a new legislative package aimed at reducing child drownings, including a bill that directly targets safety risks in short-term vacation rentals.

📜 New Ordinances Approved

• Evanston, IL: Evanston has extended its moratorium on new and renewed vacation rental licenses until early March as officials prepare to finalize new short-term rental limits.
• Ocean City, MD: Ocean City has extended its short-term rental moratorium for another year pushing the expiration to Jan. 3, 2027, and continuing the halt on new STR licenses in residential areas and mobile home communities.

💬 Catch Up on Discussions

• Austin, TX: The Austin City hired Deckard Technologies to manage both enforcement and licensing upgrades, with contracts totaling more than $2.4 million over five years.
• Yucca Valley, CA: Yucca Valley commissioners received an update on short-term rentals, including a new online GIS map that displays all active STR permits.
• Fayetteville, AR: City officials are considering updates to their short-term rental ordinance, including reduced occupancy limits and new density controls for Type II rentals.
• Rapid City, SD: Rapid City’s Short-Term Rental Advisory Committee has advanced a proposed ordinance to address the growing number of vacation home rentals and related neighborhood complaints.
• Talbot County, MD: Talbot County residents and short-term rental operators clashed over proposed legislation, Bill 1622, which would impose new restrictions on rentals in village neighborhoods.
• Park Township, MI: Internal emails show Park Township officials privately admitted the township had no short-term rental regulations, despite insisting publicly that a long-standing ordinance outlawed them.
• Clovis, CA: Clovis reports that stricter enforcement of its short-term rental ordinance has brought 105 units into full compliance and generated $270,000 in transient occupancy tax revenue last fiscal year.
• Sedona, AZ: Arizona’s Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Sedona cannot block a mobile home park from operating short-term rentals, reaffirming that state law preempts local restrictions.
• Chikaming Township, MI: Residents packed a special Chikaming Township meeting to debate whether stricter short-term rental rules are needed.
• Decatur, GA: Decatur is moving forward with long-delayed short-term rental regulations now that its new zoning ordinance is set to take effect Jan. 1.
• McKinney, TX: McKinney’s hospitality industry closed FY24-25 with record hotel occupancy tax revenue, exceeding $3.3 million and marking a 6.7% year-over-year increase.
• Maui County, HI: Maui County Council narrowly advanced Mayor Richard Bissen’s controversial Bill 9, which would phase out thousands of short-term rentals in apartment-zoned areas to free up housing for local residents and fire survivors.
• Tybee Island, GA: Tybee Island’s long-running fight over short-term rental rules is back in court as Tybee Alliance pushes a motion for summary judgment.
• Lowndes, MS: Lowndes County supervisors tabled a proposed ordinance that would apply the county’s 2% hotel tax to short-term rentals and require operators to register and obtain permits similar to Columbus’ new rules.
• Nantucket, MA: Nantucket’s corporate STR ban has failed to stop major players like Heirloom, which continues to run luxury rentals by holding each property under LLCs linked to its founder.
• Waynesville, NC: After nearly two years of discussion, Waynesville’s planning board voted to reject any new rules on short-term rentals, effectively halting efforts to define or regulate STRs in town.
• Kansas City, MO: Kansas City has updated its short-term rental ordinance ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, allowing the city to declare a “major event period” of up to 90 days to expand lodging options.
• Green Bay, WI: Green Bay’s City Council voted to scrap all existing short-term rental proposals and directed staff to draft an entirely new set of regulations with input from the Equal Rights Commission, community members, and the STR Alliance.
• National City, CA: National City is introducing its first regulations on short-term rentals, capping permits at 45 per council district and temporarily halting all STR operations until applications open next year.
• Encampment, WY: Encampment has enacted a temporary moratorium on short-term rental permits while officials study the impacts of STR growth on housing, safety, and property values.

📲 Social Buzz

The Conversation: Mālama Mākua film; Tourism

Mālama Mākua’s Lynette Cruz and Sparky Rodrigues and filmmaker Mikey Inouye talk about their film that shows the decades-long fight of military leases; Ray Tsuchiyama, realtor and management consultant, talks about whether Japanese travelers are coming back to Hawaiʻi

HAWAIIBill Dorman

🖱️ Click of the Week: See What Everyone’s Reading

Vancouver’s Bold By-Law Overhaul for 2026 FIFA World Cup: How Airbnb, Marriott, and Airlines Stand to Benefit from New Regulations! - Travel And Tour World

Vancouver’s Bold By‑Law Overhaul for 2026 FIFA World Cup: How Airbnb, Marriott, and Airlines Stand to Benefit from New Regulations

Travel And Tour World

Vancouver’s Bold By-Law Overhaul for 2026 FIFA World Cup: How Airbnb, Marriott, and Airlines Stand to Benefit from New Regulations!

Vancouver has approved temporary by-law changes for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, easing rules on building use, noise, signage, and short-term rentals to accommodate a major surge in visitors. The relaxed regulations are expected to boost Airbnb availability, hotel capacity, and airline traffic as the city prepares for an unprecedented influx of fans.

Social Listening 🎧: Podcast

Policy talk doesn’t just happen in the news cycle—it can also live in long-form audio. STRisker’s Podcast Signal turns hours of episodes into actionable insight, indexing transcripts so you can surface key mentions of STRs, ordinances, and local decision-makers in seconds.

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