Stay in the Know During the Legislative Session

The Municipal Association’s Hometown Legislative Action Day will take place Tuesday, February 7, in Columbia, giving municipal officials a time to learn about critical current issues ranging from short-term rentals to law enforcement policies, among others. Details on the meeting are available on the Association’s website and mobile app. 

The meeting is far from the only way for city and town officials to keep up with what’s happening at the State House. Here are numerous channels of information that officials can follow along with as the legislative session progresses: 

• Subscribe to the From the Dome to Your Home weekly legislative report. The report is delivered by email every Friday during the session. It looks at what’s happening with all legislation that could impact cities and towns, with a close focus on any bills that would help achieve the 2023 – 24 Advocacy Initiatives developed by the Municipal Association, such as a ban on “squat trucks,” statewide hate crimes legislation and stronger penalties for illegal fentanyl tracking. 

• Listen to the From the Dome to Your Home podcast. This weekly podcast takes a deeper dive into legislative action as it happens. The first couple of episodes this season include an overall preview of the legislative session as well as a review of the earliest action on fentanyl trafficking, squat truck prohibitions and the effort to regulate municipal election dates. 
• Review the Municipal Association’s advocacy handbook. The handbook, Raising Hometown Voices to a New Level of Influence, outlines the basics of communicating successfully with the legislators representing a city or town. The most important takeaway is the importance of establishing a relationship with the local legislative delegation before asking for something. The Association also maintains a directory of which municipalities are represented by each member of the House and member of the Senate to make sure that local officials know with whom in the General Assembly they should be communicating.

Local Business License Renewal Center Setup Happens in January

The 2020 SC Business License Tax Standardization Act requires that local governments that levy a business license tax must offer a statewide online business license renewal portal. The Local Business License Renewal Center fulfills this requirement and gives businesses operating in multiple parts of the state an easy way to renew all of their licenses at once.

Because all business licenses now have a standard due date of April 30, January is the time for all cities and towns to ensure they are prepared to accept payments from the Renewal Center. Here are several key things for municipalities to know going into the setup period that ends January 25, 2023: 

Tasks for the business licensing main contact 

Every taxing jurisdiction has one staff member designated as the main contact for the Renewal Center. Those contacts need to make certain that their city or town has everything set up correctly in the Renewal Center. 

They must ensure that all of the current city or town business license data is imported into the Renewal Center. They need to make sure their city or town has set up an account with Stripe, the Renewal Center’s payment processor. They need to ensure the most current version of the jurisdiction’s business license is uploaded — the Municipal Association recommends adoption of the model business license ordinance — and make sure that the business license rate structures, penalty structures and excluded North American Industry Classification System codes, or NAICS codes, are edited and up to date. They should also make sure that the logo and authorized signature of the city or town are up to date, since these will appear on issued business licenses. 

Renewal notice letter mailouts 

The Renewal Center opens to businesses for their payments on February 1. Because of this, the Municipal Association recommends that cities and towns mail out their annual business license renewal notices in January. 

Notices need to include the business’ NAICS code number and business license account number. Also, because the Renewal Center identifies businesses by either a Federal Employee Identification Number or the business owner’s Social Security number, those cities and towns that are not already requesting this information should ask for it in the renewal notice so that businesses may use the Renewal Center. 

Revenue Analyst Fran Adcock is the Municipal Association’s staff contact for the Renewal Center. For those needing assistance with setup or renewal notices, contact her at fadcock@masc.sc or 803.933.1201. 

“Business Licensing Essentials” moves to second Tuesdays 

In 2022, the Association’s Local Revenue Services began hosting “Business Licensing Essentials,” a series of virtual training sessions on the many critical topics involved in the business licensing process. Last year, those monthly sessions took place on the second Wednesday at 10 a.m., but in 2023, the sessions will move to the second Tuesday. The sessions require no registration. When they begin, a login link can be found on the Association’s training calendar. Attending these sessions allows participants to gain points toward their Master in Business Licensing, or MBL reaccreditation.

More resources 

• The Association’s website has a page that gathers together information about the Local Business License Renewal Center. 
• The Renewal Center link for businesses to use is www.localblrenewal.com. 
• The Renewal Center link for taxing jurisdictions to use when maintaining their accounts is jurisdiction.localblrenewal.com.