MVRA Letter to Gov Ige
I am sharing MVRA's letter that we set to Governor Ige last week. Feel free to utilize any of our suggestions or data in your letters to the Governor and Lt. Gov as well.
A Message from RBOAA
Rental By Owner Awareness Association (RBOAA) has sent over an urgent Call to Action that we would like to support. RBOAA is an unrelated organization, but we work closely together and share similar goals. Here is the the gist of the message:
As most of you hopefully know, Governor Ige on September 16 cautiously reopened tourism starting October 15 when pre-travel testing will allow visitors to bypass the mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival in Hawaii. There are many state rules and what-ifs, and the counties may have their own rules, so please read up on these prior to taking bookings or planning any trips.
A potential problem has arisen because the county mayors have since decided that they want all arrivals to take a second test within 72 hours of arrival. During those proposed 72 hours, all arriving would need to remain quarantined, and on Maui at least, that means travelers (though not owners) would need to stay in quarantine-approved accommodations (which excludes the majority of vacation rentals). Additionally, as homeowners we may be responsible for a fine if our guests were to stay in our vacation rentals during their quarantine. Some local groups have also been lobbying the Governor to adopt a two test policy.
Here are links to media reports with two county mayors of Maui and Kauai on record pushing for the second test.
Maui Mayor Victorino
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/video/2020/10/02/maui-mayor-mike-victorino-explains-how-nd-test-travelers-would-work/
Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/10/02/kauai-mayor-asks-governor-ok-require-second-covid-test-all-arrivals/
Hawaii Lt Governor Josh Green is on record opposing the second test as it will severely reduce the number of visitors who will come.
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2020/10/01/live-lt-gov-josh-green-discuss-details-testing-program-trans-pacific-visitors/
It sounds like the mayors need the Governor's approval to implement the second test requirement.
URGENT: We ask that you, TODAY, send out three emails voicing your concern that legal vacation rentals (a large part of the tourism economy) are being now pushed out of the reopening equation AND also that this second test will severely restrict the restarting of the tourism economy.
1. Contact your county's mayor and voice your concern.
2. Contact Governor David Ige https://governor.hawaii.gov/contact-us/contact-the-governor/
3. Contact Lt Governor Josh Green https://ltgov.hawaii.gov/contact-us/contact-the-lieutenant-governor/
In addition there is a petition started by HomeyHawaii.com that you can sign:
Maui
https://www.change.org/p/hawaii-governor-david-y-ige-request-gov-ige-to-deny-maui-s-additional-quarantine-request
It will also help to ask people to write a comment under Josh Green’s FB video. He is against the second test but many of the comments are criticizing him.
https://www.facebook.com/LtGovJoshGreen
