Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Short Term Rentals topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate hears bill to clarify "tourist home" definition; health officials warn of public-health gap
Summary
Senate Bill 363 would revise the statutory definition of "tourist home" to limit licenses to entire homes never occupied by an owner or manager; supporters said the change would reduce licensing confusion and regulatory burden, while public-health officials warned it could exempt many short-term rentals from sanitation oversight.
Senator Daniel Zolnikov introduced Senate Bill 363, which would amend a definition in statute to clarify which short-term rentals require a tourist-home license.
Zolnikov said the bill rewrites the definition in 50-51-102(12) so a "tourist home" means a private home or condominium that is never occupied by an owner or manager and is rented in its entirety to transient guests. He said the change is intended to reduce confusion between rentals of a room in an owner-occupied home and fully unoccupied homes used solely as rentals.
"The definition of a tourist home has become confusing," attorney Stephanie Baucus told the committee, adding that customers and local governments have disagreed about which properties require licensing.
Several homeowners, landlords and property-owners' advocates testified in favor of the bill, saying it would reduce red tape and spare owner-occupied residences from licensing costs and annual fees. John Sinrud of the Montana Landlord Association said clearer definitions would help align the tenant-landlord law and tourist-home licensing.
Missoula Public Health's Shannon Theriault, an opponent, told senators the proposed language would create a large loophole: "Changing the definition in this particular manner would make licensing of tourist homes almost impossible. An owner could stay 1 night, and it would exempt them from licensing and basic public health requirements." Theriault said licensed tourist homes are subject to basic sanitation standards — safe water, wastewater, garbage disposal and pest control — and noted licensed tourist-home fees are currently $40 a year.
Darryl Barton, a public-health sanitarian at the Department of Public Health and Human Services, provided an informational estimate of current licensing: "There are currently, as of yesterday, 3,945 tourist homes in the state," he said. Barton described the state-local system in which DPHHS licenses are implemented by local health departments and noted initial plan review and initial inspection processes exist; reinspections generally follow complaints.
Supporters argued the bill would relieve owner-occupants who occasionally rent rooms, while opponents warned it could exempt many rentals from oversight and weaken protections for the traveling public. The committee heard both sides and posed questions about inspection frequency, licensing scope and potential impacts on health departments’ workload.
No formal committee vote or amendment was recorded in the hearing segment included in the transcript.
