WEST PALM BEACH — A vacation rental bill being shuttled through the legislature has drawn opponents, many of whom want the state to keep its paws off of local control.

For different reasons, the Palm Beach County tax collector and some local homeowner’s associations also disapprove of the bill.

A bill sponsor told state legislators of a House subcommittee this week that the bill would not impact an HOA’s ability to enforce rules that prohibit short-term vacation rentals from being run inside their gates.

But for Beth Rappaport, president of the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations (COBWRA), language is key.

In its current iteration, the bill says in part that property owners have “constitutionally protected property rights” that gives them the “right to use their residential property as a vacation rental.” Also, the bill says that “vacation rentals are residential in nature.”

She said the organization objects to these specific portions of the bill, where the wording could be interpreted to trounce a gated community’s ability to ban vacation rentals.

“When you purchase a home in an HOA, it’s understood that you’re not purchasing your home for business purposes,” Rappaport said. “And a vacation rental is a business activity evidenced by the fact that it’s taxable.”

Bob Sklar, HOA president of Valencia Lakes in suburban Boynton Beach, isn’t against vacation rentals, but felt that if the language wasn’t strengthened to protect an HOA’s autonomy, it would open the door for vacation renters to infiltrate their neighborhoods and “raise hell for a weekend.”

“When it’s all done and gone, the house is a mess, the neighborhood is a mess. Our property values are shot,” Sklar said. “Basically, it’s an invasion of our privacy.”

Saul Shenkman said he was concerned about how vacation rentals would impact his neighborhood, whose residents are screened before moving in, because “we don’t know about the people coming in.”

“It would completely damage the reason we moved here,” said Shenkman, who heads the HOA of Villa Borghese in suburban Delray Beach. “Our main objective is our quality of life.”

Palm Beach County passed a vacation rental ordinance

Since June, when Palm Beach County commissioners approved a vacation rental ordinance, Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon said the county’s bed tax collection has increased nearly 200 percent, and about 5,800 short-term vacation rental owners have the now-required business tax receipt.

“It’s a real plus for us,” Gannon said of the ordinance.

Gannon asked state legislators this week to vote down the bill, saying that paying for a state license might dissuade vacation rental owners.

“We do not want to discourage them. We like the business, we think it’s good for Florida,” Gannon said. “But this bill is going to shut it down.”

She also questioned how the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees professions including hoteliers, barbers, interior designers and yacht brokers, would be able to handle licensing and inspections for all short-term vacation rentals statewide. The bill calls for the hiring of six people to facilitate the bill’s new requirements.

“I think there are a lot of questions about it, and they haven’t been answered,” she said.

Both Gannon and the HOA leaders hope legislators go back to the drawing board.

The bill passed its first House subcommittee Tuesday by a vote of 10 to 5. On the affirming side was state Rep. Rick Roth, R-Palm Beach Gardens, who reasoned that the only way the bill could be changed was if it had the chance to move through the committees.

“The answer is very simple in my mind: I can either vote no on the bill and have no chance to amend — and I believe it’s going to pass today — or I can vote yes on the bill with the assurances (that it will improve),” Roth said.