The grounds under which a business license could be denied, revoked or suspended as they relate to residents with criminal convictions in either the City of Sumter or Sumter County may be unfair, some officials say.
The city of Sumter and Sumter County evaluated 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 new year.
According to reporting from The Sumter Item, before the city passed its amendment to the business license 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.
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."
City councilman James B. Blassingame said he does not want the ordinance to combat residents wanting to operate honest businesses despite criminal convictions.
"We on this council, all of us are believers, and we believe in redemption," he said during that November city council meeting. "We believe in forgiveness and second chances."
And county councilman Carlton Washington has a similar opinion and told The Item that he wants the 10-year restriction to be deleted from the ordinance.
Again, a request to amend the ordinance has not appeared on any county agendas but has been mentioned during various public meetings, so it will likely appear on one of the first county council agendas of 2024.
CEO and president of the Sumter Black Chamber of Commerce Elayne Brunson spoke during the public comment portion of the Dec. 12 county council meeting and advocated for the ordinance to change.
"This legislation is not just a barrier to reentry, it is a form of discrimination against handicaps, veterans and socially disadvantaged business owners, and in Sumter, South Carolina, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive community that supports all of its members," she said. "However, the current ordinance undermines our values by creating unnecessary hurdles for those seeking to rebuild their lives after serving their time."
She then cited statistics showing that people released from incarceration often find themselves back in trouble again because of a lack of resources and opportunities within their communities. She also said the ordinance affects minorities more than others.
Verbiage that could bar people with criminal convictions from owning and operating businesses is not found in every county in the state, but there are business-related hurdles such people face throughout the country as is.
According to the RAND Corporation (its name was derived from the phrase "research and development"), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that challenges public policy to promote equal rights, business owners with criminal records already struggle to benefit from federal assistance programs.
For example, the Paycheck Protection Program, which was a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, helped businesses with less than 500 employees survive the pandemic, but small business owners with criminal records were ineligible to receive money from it at first.
Then federal courts ruled this stipulation unlawful, according to an article from the American Civil Liberties Union.
In short, business owners with criminal convictions are having to overcome hurdles on a federal level and at the local level because of ordinances such as the ones that the city of Sumter and Sumer County have that could bar some Sumterites with criminal convictions from having a business license.
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. Kershaw and Florence do not, to name a few others close to Sumter. This is not a comprehensive list.
Most of the municipalities that have a similar ordinance to that of Sumter County and the City of Sumter also use the word "may" and not "shall," so that means someone with a recent criminal conviction could still be granted a business license in many parts of the state.
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.
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 the county also has not denied any business license applications.
The city does not have any plans to further amend its ordinance, but the county may amend its ordinance in the new year.
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