State Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette

MARQUETTE — State Rep. Sara Cambensy, D-Marquette, is a cosponsor of House Bill 4722, which would “amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act to provide that the short-term rental dwelling, for 30 days or less, is a permitted residential use of property that is not subject to a special use or conditional use permit or procedure,” according to the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency.

However, she has concerns about the legislation in its current form, she told The Mining Journal Wednesday.

“I don’t support the bill as written, but I do think short-term rentals should be an allowable use,” she said. “They’re here to stay, I don’t think short-term rentals are going away. The intent behind House Bill 4722 is to say local communities can not outright ban them completely, which we’re seeing some do throughout Michigan. As written, it takes away too much local control in my opinion.

“Just like every piece of legislation, you try to take what’s presented and refine it, refine it down to what is agreeable to all parties. In this case, it would be local government as well as private property rights of homeowners. Because there was little to no willingness to negotiate like we do on all other bills, House Bill 4722 is now dead and not moving. Those of us who agreed to sit at the table and negotiate have been left out.”

Cambensy added that there are many issues for the Legislature to resolve regarding short-term rentals.

“This is the starting point,” she said. “It’s definitely not the only issue surrounding short-term rentals that legislators need to deal with. The more important issues legislators need to work on are taxation and fees. Right now, short-term rentals are not being taxed appropriately or adequately by the state, so there’s an incentive to buy houses and turn them into short-term rentals. I directly see legislators being responsible to solving that issue first.

“Second, in places like the U.P. where there’s high tourism, local units of government get zero dollars from short-term rentals while trying to manage the population. For instance, in Alger County, they have about 8,600 people, but in the summertime, we’re seeing upward of 1.2 million people go through there. That’s a lot of people to manage, and a lot of people are staying in short-term rentals, whether hotels or Airbnbs, and they need some revenue and some authority to actually manage the influx of people like that.

“I think there’s a lot of anger. A lot of people don’t understand how bills get negotiated in Lansing. Because this is such a hot button issue, I think people are angry, but what they should be assured of is that no legislator is going to sell out their local community for a short-term rental gain. We all live in these communities, we represent them, but we also have to play hardball down here and make sure that we’re going to get that taxation fee.

“This is why only 5 percent of legislation introduced ever gets passed, because you actually need those relationships and the ability to negotiate and refine issues like this down to where the vast majority of legislators and stakeholders think it makes sense.”

Ryan Spitza can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. His email address is rspitza@miningjournal.net.