Maui Bill 88 Tracker - H3 H4 Hotel Zoning and What It Means for Maui Condo Owners

Maui Bill 88 Tracker

Updated June 20, 2026. Bill 88 has cleared its final Council reading, 7-2, and now heads to the Mayor for signature.

Can your Maui condo still operate as a vacation rental? After Bill 9, the honest answer is not for much longer, unless Bill 88 rewrites the math. The new bill hands some apartment-zoned condos a hotel-zoning escape hatch from the 2028 West Maui phase-out and 2030 South Maui phase out. With Council approval now in hand, the bill heads to the Mayor, but no complex can apply yet, and the fine print that separates the winners from the losers is still blank.

If you own or plan to buy Maui real estate, especially a condo in Kihei, Wailea, or West Maui, how this plays out may decide what you can legally do with it.

Where Bill 88 Stands Right Now

As of June 19, 2026, the Maui County Council has approved Bill 88 on second and final reading by a 7-2 vote. The bill now heads to Mayor Richard Bissen for his signature, and once signed it becomes law. Bissen authored Bill 9 and testified in support of Bill 88, so a signature is widely expected.

Bill 88 reached this point in three steps. It cleared the Housing and Land Use Committee on a 6-1 vote on May 26, 2026. It passed first reading at the full Council on June 5 on a 7-2 vote. And it cleared second reading on June 19, again 7-2. That margin met the supermajority of six votes the bill needed, since all three of the County's planning commissions, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, had recommended against the new zoning. You can review the official meeting agenda from the June 19 session.

What Bill 88 Actually Does

Bill 88 was introduced by South Maui Council Member Tom Cook. It would create two new hotel zoning districts, H-3 and H-4. These mirror the County's existing A-1 and A-2 apartment zoning standards with one key difference: they permit transient vacation rentals.

The most important point for owners: Bill 88 only creates the zoning categories. It does not place any property into them. Even with the bill passed, no condo is rezoned automatically. Any complex that wants to move from apartment zoning to H-3 or H-4 would have to apply separately and be reviewed on its own.

Before advancing the bill, the Committee added two guardrails. Molokai is exempt from H-3 and H-4 zoning. And to qualify, a property must have a vacation-rental use that the Planning Department confirms existed before September 24, 2020, a limit meant to keep roughly 1,700 properties not on the Minatoya List from using the new zoning as a backdoor.

How Bill 88 Connects To Bill 9

Bill 9 became law in December 2025. It phases out short-term rentals in apartment-zoned condos: January 1, 2029 in West Maui, and January 1, 2031 across the rest of the island, including South Maui's Kihei and Wailea. The law targets the so-called Minatoya List, the apartment-zoned condos that have legally operated as vacation rentals for years.

Published reporting puts the affected pool at roughly 6,000 units, with about 4,500 grandfathered vacation rentals across 104 properties viewed as the realistic candidates for hotel zoning. Bill 88 is the proposed off-ramp: a way for some of those condos to keep operating as vacation rentals by moving into the new hotel districts, instead of converting to long-term housing.

Our Take

Our team has guided owners and buyers through every twist of this process, and our read is direct: the new zoning is the important first step, but the details that matter most to owners are still unwritten.

The way we see it, H-3/H-4 is the first step, but the real unknown is how each complex will actually have to apply.

A few points we want owners to understand:

• Nothing is automatic. Even with Bill 88 passed, each complex would have to apply on its own to move from apartment zoning to hotel zoning. There is no island-wide switch.
• A complex has to agree as a group. Based on how condo associations operate, we expect that roughly two-thirds of owners in a building, on the order of 67%, would need to agree before the association could pursue an application. This reflects association-level decision-making, not a fixed number written into Bill 88.
• The Council vote is done. On June 19 the full Council approved Bill 88 on second and final reading, 7-2. It now goes to the Mayor for signature, and once signed the new zoning is official. The real questions move to the application process from here.
• The fine print is unwritten. Whether there will be an application fee, and how detailed the application will be, is not yet clear. We expect more answers in the coming weeks.

What It Means for Home Owners, Buyers, and Residents

For vacation rental owners. Bill 88 is the first real pathway to preserve a property's rental use, and the value tied to it, rather than facing the Bill 9 phase-out with no options. The catch is that the pathway is not guaranteed, not automatic, and not yet fully defined.

For buyers and investors. The uncertainty cuts both ways across the Maui real estate market. Affected condos may carry pricing risk until each building's path is clear, and they may also be an opportunity for buyers willing to underwrite that uncertainty. Knowing whether a specific building is on the Minatoya List, and whether it is a strong rezoning candidate, matters more than ever, and it is worth checking before you weigh the current Kihei condos for sale.

For residents and the housing picture. Bill 9 was passed to return thousands of units to long-term housing for local families, a priority that intensified after the Lahaina wildfire. Many residents see Bill 88 as softening that goal. That tension is the heart of the debate, and it is why this is far from settled.

Where The Maui Community Stands

Support. Mayor Richard Bissen, who authored Bill 9, has backed Bill 88 as an intentional next step in carrying out Bill 9, stressing that it does not automatically reclassify any property or undo the phase-out. Tom Cook, who introduced it, has described it as a necessary tool for properties that cannot realistically convert to long-term housing. Industry voices, including the Maui Vacation Rentals Association, frame it as fixing a long-standing zoning mismatch rather than adding new rentals.

Opposition. Council Member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez cast the lone dissenting vote at committee and remained opposed. Community group Lahaina Strong and many residents argue Bill 88 undercuts the housing goals of Bill 9. Organizer Jordan Ruidas, who visited the affected properties, has said only a small number genuinely operate like hotels, with front desks and on-site staff, and that any rezoning should be held to a true hotel standard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Bill 88 cancel Bill 9? No. Bill 88 does not repeal Bill 9 or stop the vacation-rental phase-out. It creates a possible zoning pathway that individual condos could apply for later.

Now that Bill 88 has passed, is my condo automatically rezoned? No. Each complex would still have to apply separately for rezoning and be reviewed on its own merits.

Which condos could qualify? Apartment-zoned (A-1 or A-2) condos that the Planning Department confirms had vacation-rental use before September 24, 2020. Properties on the County's TIG Exhibit 2 list are considered the strongest candidates, though others may apply.

When do the Bill 9 deadlines hit? Short-term rentals phase out in West Maui apartment districts on January 1, 2029, and across the rest of Maui, including Kihei and Wailea, on January 1, 2031.

Is Bill 88 final? The full Council passed Bill 88 on second and final reading on June 19, 2026, by a 7-2 vote. It now goes to Mayor Bissen for signature, and becomes law once he signs. We update this page when that happens.

What To Watch Next

With the Council vote done, the next signals to watch: whether Mayor Bissen signs Bill 88 into law, and how the County defines the rezoning application itself, the cost, the timeline, and what each building has to prove. We track all of it here, along with what each move means for the Maui real estate market, and refresh this page as the process moves.

Own, or thinking about buying, a Maui condo affected by Bill 9 or Bill 88? Our Maui real estate team at Coldwell Banker Island Properties, Shops at Wailea, works with affected owners, buyers, and sellers across South Maui every week. Contact us to talk through your specific building and your options.

Sources

• Maui County Council, Bill 88 second reading, June 19, 2026, view agenda
• Maui Now, coverage of the May 26, 2026 committee vote
• AsAmNews, May 27, 2026
• Aloha State Daily, January 2026
• Maui County Council, mauicounty.us

This tracker reflects the best available public information and our team's professional read as of the update date. It is not legal advice. Owners with questions about a specific property should consult the County and qualified counsel. Whether you are buying or selling on the island, we can help you navigate the wider Maui real estate market.