As state lawmakers handle a special session this week, they’re also holding a meeting on another emerging controversy: Airbnbs and other short-term rentals. The possibility of a new state law has localities like Nashville watching closely, and a cross-section of interest groups lined up to speak.
Airbnbs and vacation rentals have already triggered Tennessee cities to pass laws about tax collection, official permits and penalties for the times guests disrupt neighborhoods.
Those measures — and an initial piece of state legislation last year — make Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, interested in closer study.
“We have somewhat of a hodgepodge across the state,” he told WPLN. “Some cities ban the use of Airbnbs altogether. Others allow it in certain areas.”
Johnson worries about inconsistencies as towns from Forest Hills to Hendersonville to Brentwood take up possible rules. Nashville has six council proposals in motion.
The senator said his goal is to strike a balance. For one, he said he is excited about creating more competition in the hotel market — while wanting property owners to be fairly taxed.
“Some Airbnb properties are paying the appropriate taxes and some aren’t, so there’s some conversation about should we have some type of statewide application of tax that is remitted back to local governments?” he said.
Johnson said he wants visitors to stay where they’re comfortable, “but I’m also sympathetic to the family who lives in a quiet neighborhood and a 15-passenger van shows up for the weekend and it’s a bachelorette party and there’s a lot of loud noise and drinking.”
“And that’s not what people want in their neighborhoods.”
So far, only Arizona has taken statewide action. The legislation there stripped regulatory powers away from localities and imposed a single tax collection system,
according to The Arizona Republic
.
That state’s law has since become
a model for the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council
— but Johnson says he’s not working from a template.
The state Senate has scheduled its short-term rental hearing for 9 a.m. Thursday. Speakers on
the agenda include representatives of Airbnb, HomeAway, and Wyndham Vacation Rentals; tourism leaders; government representatives from Nashville and Franklin; and The Beacon Center.
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