It is easy to see that state lawmakers are eager to get tax money out of the thousands of vacation rentals operating illegally in Hawaii.

But getting more tax money does not justify damaging our most important industry and driving Hawaii residents out of our neighborhoods.

Nor does collecting more tax revenue justify the state government stealing the rights of our county governments to make the zoning and housing decisions we elect them to make.

Unfortunately, the state Legislature is proceeding with legislation that will end up undermining our tourism industry, disrupting our neighborhoods and likely dissuading county governments from establishing common-sense rules to protect our communities.

The rapid expansion of transient vacation rentals in our islands has already disrupted many communities, driven rents sky-high and increased homelessness.

Now huge corporate online businesses make it easy to operate illegal hotel enterprises in our neigh-borhoods, and the same corporations are now seeking changes in the law to allow massive further expansion.

Leading the corporate charge to gut Hawaii’s zoning laws is the $25.5 billion Airbnb, which has proposed legislation that is similar to what they are pushing in other states — from Arizona to Virginia.

House Bill 1850 is flawed in some basic and funda-mental ways — ways designed to benefit Airbnb at the expense of our communities, and designed to remove Airbnb’s responsibility of policing its own listings. As currently drafted, this is a bad law. But it is not too late to fix it.

Some of the flaws, and the fixes needed:

>> Don’t let illegal enterprises hide.

HB 1850 would shield vacation rental operators by having the state Tax Department simply rely and trust Airbnb and similar corporations to collect taxes on the state’s behalf. Illegal operators would be able to operate without ever getting a state tax license — they would be able to hide behind Airbnb’s single tax license.

The fix: HB 1850 must require companies like Airbnb to publicly disclose information related to operators listing on their sites so the state and counties can enforce existing laws; and should be changed to make vacation rental operators each get their own tax license — like every other business.

>> Don’t give up the right to audit the taxpayers/tax dodgers.

Airbnb has been hiding its list of rental operations from governments all over America. When New York lawmakers finally got it to show its list, Airbnb censored its roster of operators before letting govern- ment officials examine it.

The fix: Remove language that limits state tax auditing power; require companies like Airbnb to turn over its lists.

>> Don’t push aside our local governments.

County governments on all islands are struggling to find solutions that provide appropriate opportunities for our people in the visitor industry while still protecting our homes and neighborhoods. County council members, the Planning Departments for the City and County of Honolulu and Kauai County publicly oppose HB 1850.

The fix: Put language into the bill to make it clear that the state is not taking away the counties’ right to say how, when and where vacation rental businesses can be operated in their communities.

We have provided to state lawmakers draft language for all these amendments to HB 1850.

We have seen how scofflaw corporations like Airbnb have conned many governments into passing laws like HB 1850. They entrance lawmakers that are struggling with budget and revenue issues with the prospect of easy revenue, thus distracting political leaders from looking closely at the impact the law will have on our people.

We want tourism to work for our communities — not destroy them.