A. Barton Hinkle writes:
Government is frequently a one-way ratchet whose grip grows ever tighter, never looser. The evidence for that premise, already abundant, continues to mount. Take the way Virginia’s General Assembly has responded to Airbnb.
A bill to regulate short-term rentals, which mostly means Airbnb, has moved swiftly through the legislature. The measure would let localities create short-term rental registries and require “operators”—i.e., homeowners—to register not once, but every year. They also would have to get an ABC license if they want to serve alcohol to their guests.
The bill’s patron, Tommy Norment, represents a tourism-heavy region and has a financial stake in two hotels. He also is co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and threatened opponents of the Airbnb bill with an even more Draconian proposal if it didn’t pass: a budget amendment creating a state registry and imposing a $500 fine for every day an unregistered property was rented out. (Norment also was instrumental in derailing other legislation in last year’s Assembly that took a much more favorable stance toward sharing-economy rentals.) Another measure this year, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Stanley, would have imposed a $10,000 fine on anyone who committed a short-term rental in a locality that forbids them.
The lodging industry supports tighter controls on Airbnb, for the obvious reason. As Del. Chris Peace (R-97th District) put it last year, “They want the government to protect their market share.”
Don’t Strangle AirBnb; Cut Its Competitors Some Slack!
Government is frequently a one-way ratchet whose grip grows ever tighter, never looser. The evidence for that premise, already abundant, continues to mount. Take the way Virginia’s General Assembly has responded to Airbnb. A bill to regulate short-term rentals, which mostly means Airbnb, has moved swiftly through the legislature.