Gov. Doug Ducey is defending a new law he signed that allows people with one home-- or dozens-- to rent them out for weekends no matter what local cities and their neighbors think.
The new law that takes effect Aug. 6 overrules any existing or future city ordinance that limits short-term rentals. The only thing communities could regulate are things like noise and parking rules.
Ducey, in a ceremonial bill signing Wednesday engineered by home share web service Airbnb, touted it as good not only for those seeking alternatives to hotels and resorts but also for the homeowners who can make some money.
"For thousands of hardworking citizens, opening up their home to out-of-state guests provides the financial breathing room they need to provide for their family or enjoy an extra expense that they otherwise couldn't afford,'' the governor said.
The law, however, covers more than those renting out a bedroom, or even their whole home. There is no limit on the number of properties an investor could buy and days a home can be rented out-- and all in the same residential area, potentially turning the whole area into a vacation rental zone. But the governor brushed aside questions of whether that could change the character of neighborhoods.
"I'm not going to answer these hypotheticals,'' Ducey said. "And the markets adjust,'' he continued. "Somehow we survive people making entrepreneurial decisions and innovative aps like this, provide convenience and cost-sharing opportunities.''
The League of Arizona Cities and Towns agreed not to oppose the measure after it was amended to preserve local health and safety ordinances. But that still wasn't enough to convince everyone at the Capitol that allowing anyone to open up one or more homes to vacationers was in the best interests of others already living in an area.
"I didn't move into a neighborhood to have the house next door to me turned into a weekly rental property,'' said Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, while voting against the measure earlier this year.
But the question of what the neighbors might think did not arise Wednesday since the ceremony was at a secluded private home. Gubernatorial press aide Daniel Scarpinato said the location was chosen by Airbnb.
The measure was pushed through the legislature by Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria. "My priority goal was to protect individual rights and property rights,'' she said.
But Lesko dismissed concerns that some of her constituents will be surprised when they find weekend rentals in their residential neighborhoods. And she rejected the idea that speculators could change the character of neighborhoods by buying up multiple properties for weekend.
"It possibly could occur,'' Lesko said. "If something like that happened and there is noise or parking issues then the city is given the authority to step in against bad actors.''
Anyway, she said, that is more likely to be the exception. "In most of these situations, they're good people that rent homes,'' Lesko said. "They just want to stay someplace and have the Arizona experience.''
Ducey also insisted that the new law will actually expand Arizona's economy, rejecting the idea that all it will mean is people who are already coming to Arizona will stay in a home rather than a hotel. "I would say we're supplementing [the vacation industry] rather than displacing,'' the governor said. "I would say we are adding rather than disrupting.''
According to Ducey, 131,000 guests stayed at Airbnb facilities in the state last year.
This isn't the governor's first foray into what he says is expansion of the so-called sharing economy. Last year he signed a measure to lift various regulations from ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft. And Ducey said Arizonans should look for more bills of this type.
"I'm not here to block new ideas and good ideas,'' he said. "I'm here to make it easier for entrepreneurs and business owners and would-be entrepreneurs to get into business.''