The city of Sedona plans to continue hiring a lobbyist to campaign at the Arizona State Legislature for increased short-term rental regulations.

The lobbyist was first approved by a 4-3 vote in 2021, over the objections of three council members, including the former mayor, who saw little benefit in lobbying legislators.

The three dissenters have all left, one willingly, the other two in defeat following their failed reelection bids.

Newcomers who know nothing of Arizona’s history falsely claim online that Senate Bill 1350, passed in 2016,, “reflects the state’s deeply conservative, predominantly Republican ideology, which prioritizes free-market principles and deregulation over community needs,” but that’s countered by facts easily obtainable both now and at the time of the vote. SB 1350 was a bipartisan bill, approved by every Democrat — save one who was absent — and all but 10 Republicans, one who was absent and nine who opposed it.

The bill was sponsored by then-Sen. Debbie Lesko [R-District 21], who left the legislature next term to fill Arizona’s District 8 seat in Congress.

Due to Arizona’s term limits, all but a handful of the legislators who voted for or against the bill in 2016 have departed the legislature, so the bill has no legacy value for any prideful lawmakers.

In 2016, the bill itself was fairly innocuous, and they were few in the legislature strongly for or against it, only receiving a push from vacation rental corporations and the Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank that defends property rights, among other causes.

From committee discussions, it was clear most lawmakers assumed that the beneficiaries of the new law would simply be current homeowners who would rent out rooms, second homes or mother-in-law accessory dwelling units on their properties. They did not anticipate out-of-state companies buying up properties in tourist towns and converting them into vacation rentals to skirt local statutes on lodging facilities. Eight years on, this is clearly what has happened in many small towns, as more than just resident homeowners have taken advantage of the statue.

An outright repeal of SB1350 is off the table. The statutes involved are now economically and administratively entrenched across the state. Whether a buyer wants a house for a short-term rental or as long-term housing is effectively immaterial for real estate agents who profit from the sale of any properties, but they might bristle if home prices fall. More substantially, the short-term rental industry employs property managers, housekeepers, specialized vendors, marketing professionals, social media “influencers” and support staff in various capacities.

Arizona is known for its pro-property rights leanings among conservatives, but those exist even among upperclass liberals who regularly employ NIMBY tactics to hypocritically undercut supposedly liberal positions of supporting affordable housing and the working class — so long as those workers live “elsewhere” and not near their gated communities and mini-mansions.

Beyond just homeowners, Arizona’s lawmakers are simply not going to turn all those people out of work for the benefit of one small, vocal town in Northern Arizona. But some sort of increased regulatory regime is possible if Sedona’s lobbyist can convince a majority of lawmakers to go along by refraining from focusing solely on lobbying Democratic lawmakers who would be most inclined to impose new regulations anyway. Republicans have a majority in the current state legislature; Democrats alone simply do not have the votes.

It would behoove Sedona to collaborate with tourist towns in red districts, such as Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City and Kingman in District 30, the river counties in District 25, the towns in the White Mountains in Districts 3 and 7, the wine country in Graham and Cochise counties in District 19 and the conservative suburbs of Phoenix and Tucson, making a case that more regulations would not simply be a liberal power grab, but would also benefit conservative red districts that have issues with housing and overall employment.

The vast majority of short-term rentals are not corporate properties but still average residents’ second homes or spare rooms that were largely unused before SB 1350.

These would revert to being unused and vacant spaces if SB1350 was repealed. The lobbyist could also make the point that rentals in small communities flood the market, making it hard for Arizona constituents to profit from the short-term rentals that were supposed to benefit them rather than out-of-state investors with no economic or cultural ties to those communities.

The lobbyist could also make the case that it’s largely California companies profiting from Arizona’s short-term rental laws. After all, Arizona’s conservative and liberal lawmakers alike love having no bigger punching bag than California.

2016 passage of Senate Bill 1350 by the 52nd Arizona State Legislature

While short-term rental opponents claim the bill was passed on a partisan basis, the vote on Senate Bill 1350 in 2016 was remarkably bipartisan. No Democrats and only six Republicans voted against it.

Final vote in the Arizona State Senate (25-3-2):

Yea: Sen. Sylvia Tenney Allen [R-District 6] (representing Sedona and the Verde Valley), Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford [D], Sen. Carlyle W. Begay [R], Sen. Andy Biggs [R], Sen. David T. Bradley [D], Sen. Judy M. Burges [R], Sen. Lupe Chavira Contreras [D], Sen. Andrea D. Dalessandro [D], Sen. Jeff Dial [R], Sen. Susan Donahue [R], Sen. Adam D. Driggs [R], Sen. Steve Farley [D], Sen. Gail Griffin [R], Sen. Katie Hobbs [D-District 24] (minority leader, elected governor of Arizona in 2022), Sen. Debbie Lesko [R-District 21] (Senate Bill 1350 sponsor), Sen. Barbara McGuire [D], Sen. Robert Meza [D], Sen. Catherine H. Miranda [D], Sen. Lynne Pancrazi [D], Sen. Stephen “Steve” M. Pierce [R-District 1] (representing Cottonwood), Sen. Martin J. Quezada [D], Sen. Andrew C. Sherwood [D], Sen. Don Shooter [R], Sen. Steve Smith [R], Sen. Bob Worsley [R], Sen. Steven “Steve” B. Yarbrough [R], Sen. Kimberly Yee [R]

Nay: Sen. Nancy K. Barto, [R], Sen. David Christian Farnsworth, [R] and Sen. John Kavanagh, [R]

Abstained: Sen. Olivia Cajero Bedford [D] and Sen. Susan Donahue [R]

Final vote in the Arizona House of Representatives (52-6-2):

Yea: Rep. John Christopher Ackerley [R], Rep. John M. Allen [R], Rep. Lela Alston [D], Rep. Richard C. Andrade [D], Rep. Brenda Barton [R-District 6] (representing Sedona and the Verde Valley), Rep. Charlene R. Fernandez [D], Rep. Jennifer D. Benally [D], Rep. Reginald Bolding Jr. [D], Rep. Sonny Borrelli [R], Rep. Paul Boyer [R], Rep. Kate Brophy McGee [R], Rep. Mark A. Cardenas [D], Rep. Heather Carter [R], Rep. Ken Clark [D], Rep. Regina E. Cobb [R], Rep. Douglas “Doug” Coleman [R], Rep. Karen Elizabeth Fann [R-District 1] (representing Cottonwood), Rep. Edwin “Eddie” W. Farnsworth [R], Rep. Randall Friese [D], Rep. Rosanna Gabaldon [D], Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales [D], Rep. David Gowan [R-District 14] (speaker of the house), Rep. Rick Gray [R], Rep. Albert Hale [D], Rep. Matthew A. Kopec [D], Rep. Jonathan R. Larkin [D], Rep. Jay Lawrence [R], Rep. Vince Leach [R], Rep. Livingston David Alan [R], Rep. Stefanie Mach [D], Rep. Debbie McCune-Davis [D], Rep. Juan Jose Mendez [D], Rep. Javan D. “JD” Mesnard [R], Rep. Eric D. Meyer [D], Rep. Darin Mitchell [R], Rep. Steve B. Montenegro [R], Rep. Jill Norgaard [R], Rep. Justin Olson [R], Rep. Lisa A. Otondo [D], Rep. Warren H. Petersen [R], Rep. Celeste Plumlee [D], Rep. Franklin “Frank” M. Pratt [R], Rep. Rios Rebecca [D], Rep. Bob Robson [R], Rep. Macario Saldate IV [D], Rep. Thomas “T.J.” R. Shope [R], Rep. David Stevens [R], Rep. Bob Thorpe [R-District 6] (representing Sedona and the Verde Valley), Rep. Kelly J. Townsend [R], Rep. Ceci Velasquez [D], Rep. Jeff Weninger [R], Rep. Bruce Wheeler [D]

Nay: Rep. Russell “Rusty” Bowers [R], Rep. Noel W. Campbell [R-District 1] (representing Cottonwood), Rep. Mark W. Finchem [R], Se. Anthony Kern [R] Rep. Phil Lovas [R] and Rep. Michelle R. Ugenti-Rita [R]

Abstained (both were absent): Rep. Diego Espinoza [D] and Rep. Tony Rivero [R]