Attempts to limit short-term rentals like Airbnbs will continue at the Arizona Legislature, although they haven’t made headway so far.
In 2016, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill preempting municipalities from banning short-term rentals — known and STRs. But, in the years since then, some municipalities have had to deal with many more STRs than they anticipated, to the point that the homes are taking up a significant portion of the housing stock in places like Sedona.
Beyond that, many large developers and companies buy up units en masse for the sole purpose of renting them out as STRs, rather than individual city or town residents making STRs out of their own homes.
Even though bipartisan efforts to limit STRs have cropped up — and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has said she’s open to giving municipalities more control —they’ve been stymied again and again by state legislative leaders.
This year, Sen. Mark Finchem (R-Prescott ) is pushing the restriction effort again.
His proposed bill would allow smaller cities to set a maximum number of STRs or establish a minimum distance between STRs, if the city chooses. It would apply to Prescott and Sedona.
Finchem did not respond to a request for comment.
His bill is similar to legislation that has been introduced before by his seatmate, Rep. Selina Bliss (R-Prescott).
Her bill would have given municipalities the additional option of restricting STRs in a particular part of town, rather than the whole municipality.
Bliss said she will push more STR restriction legislation again next session.
In addition to Bliss and Finchem, Rep. Stephanie Simacek (D-Phoenix), Rep. John Gillette (R-Lake Havasu City), Rep. Laura Terech (R-Phoenix), and Sen. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) have also made efforts to restrict STRs.
Those bills didn’t even make it to full committee hearings.
For lawmakers blocking those efforts, like Ducey did, the issue is one of property rights. Telling homeowners they’re not allowed to rent out their properties if they want to is a hard pill for some legislators to swallow.
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) has never put his support behind any of the restriction bills and in fact listed his own STR.
If Petersen (who is also running for attorney general) steps down as president next year, then his successor could change the tide in STR regulation legislation.
Petersen said he’ll decide early next session whether or not he’ll step aside as president. The session begins in January.
Senate Pro Tempore T.J. Shope (R-Coolidge) and Kavanagh have both expressed interest in being president.
Kavanagh’s legislative record shows he’s interested in regulating STRs, but Shope said in a text message that he is not.
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