City’s change could hinder those with criminal convictions from owning business; no Sumterite has been denied
Sumter thrift shop owner James Jackson spent a day and a half in jail 19 years ago for selling copyright CDs.
"And that's all it took for me to learn," he said.
Despite the brevity of his jail time, Jackson used the word "haunt" to describe the way in which that nearly two-decade-old conviction follows him.
"I thought I was going to be one of them Black men that make it all the way through," he said. "Then I turned 40 and got a whole convicted felony."
People with criminal convictions struggle to find work, rent apartments, and some lose the right to vote.
These are only a few of the obstacles people face post-jail or prison time. There are also social and familial consequences that follow them for a lifetime.
And throughout many municipalities, including in the City of Sumter and in Sumter County, a criminal conviction could keep someone from having a business license.
Earlier reporting from The Sumter Item details the City of Sumter and Sumter County evaluating their business license ordinances in the latter half of 2023, and the city passed an amendment to it and the county did not but may take similar action in the coming months.
County officials, however, say they have no plans of making the county business license ordinance look like the city’s. In other words, the county is considering changing the language of the ordinance and the city already changed the language in its ordinance, but the county is not considering making the same change that the city made, according to Chairman Jim McCain.
Before the city passed its amendment to the ordinance in September, the city could deny, suspend or revoke a business license if the applicant or licensee had been convicted of a business-related crime within the past 10 years, but now, after the change, crimes unrelated to the business could also bar someone from keeping or applying for a business license in the City of Sumter.
Sumter County, meanwhile, may deny, suspend or revoke a business license if the applicant or licensee has been convicted of a business-related crime within the past 10 years.
Jackson's conviction is older than 10 years, so his business license is not impacted by the existence of the ordinances.
And despite the existence of this verbiage in both the city and in the county's ordinances, neither the city nor the county have denied someone a business license.
The city has nearly 4,000 active business licenses, according to earlier reporting from The Item, and there have been no denials. County Administrator Gary Mixon said during a public meeting in December that the county also has not denied any business license applications.
In fact, both ordinances do not require that the city nor county deny a business license on account of a recent criminal conviction.
The language of the ordinances does provide, however, the city and county with the option to deny, revoke or suspend a business license on account of a recent criminal conviction.
During a November Sumter City Council meeting, city attorney Danny Crowe pointed out that the ordinance uses the word "may" instead of "shall" when it says that the "license official may deny a license to an applicant," so it still gives room for Sumterites with recent criminal convictions to be approved to operate businesses in city limits.
Sumter County's business license ordinance also uses "may" and not "shall."
In short, these ordinances that could bar Sumterites with recent criminal convictions from owning businesses do exist, but as of now, they have not prevented any Sumterites with recent criminal convictions that have applied for business licenses from operating businesses.
Some locals say the existence of the language could still act as a hindrance for those seeking to re-enter society post-jail or prison time.
In a letter to county council from the Sumter County branch of the NAACP, President Elizabeth R. Kilgore wrote that the ordinance "could potentially hinder those seeking viable pathways to re-enter society and establish legitimate economic stability."
She also noted in the letter that the city's ordinance is even more restrictive than the county's and that both could "add another layer of prosecution."
This topic was talked about at length during the Jan. 23 Sumter County Council meeting, and McCain said there is a difference between the intent from which the ordinance was created and the impact it has had.
"The intent was to protect our people," he said.
City officials said something similar during a meeting where changes to the city business license ordinance took place.
Earlier reporting from The Sumter Item quoted attorney Crowe saying the City of Sumter's ordinance helps to protect the public.
"If the public construes a city business license as some kind of vouching or recommendation for a business, we wanted to make the qualifications for a business license better and more likely to protect the public," he said during the November meeting.
1.2 million South Carolinians have criminal convictions, according to data from paperprisons.org, and not all of them live in municipalities with this kind of ordinance, but many do.
Summerville, Turbeville and Columbia, to name a few municipalities near Sumter, all have ordinances in place that allow licensee officials to deny business licenses because of criminal convictions. This is not a comprehensive list.
There are counties in South Carolina that have codes of ordinances that do not list any ordinance that could bar someone from operating a business, but that is because some counties do not issue business licenses; in many of those counties, it is the city that issues them, and many do have similar business license ordinances to the City of Sumter.
In short, most South Carolina business licensee officials have the authority to deny, revoke or suspend a business license on account of a recent criminal conviction. The City of Sumter and Sumter County are not alone in having language pertaining to criminal convictions in their business license ordinances.
Jackson, as well as some locals who spoke during Tuesday's meeting, feels that regardless of the intent behind the ordinances that they are still discriminatory and unfair.
"It's after our young Black men. It's after the Black men that did time, and now they want to come back out and do right," Jackson said.
Data from the U.S. Department of Justice shows that Black men are incarcerated at a higher rate than any other demographic.
"If you did your time, why should you not be able to come back out and start a fresh life?" Jackson asked. "[The ordinances] keeps people from starting their life over."
Clarification: A clarification has been made to a story titled, “Some say City of Sumter business license ordinance is unfair,” published on Jan. 26. Sumter County officials have no plans of making the same change to their business license ordinance that the City of Sumter made. County officials, however, are considering altering the ordinance, but it will not look similar to the alteration the city made. Additionally, there are South Carolina counties that do not have business license ordinances listed in their codes of ordinances that could bar someone from operating a business, but that is because some counties do not issue business licenses; in many of those counties, it is the city that issues them, and many do have similar business license ordinances to the City of Sumter.
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