May 2025: Advocacy Updates
Worth a read:
- Many of you read and shared the Medium article, "The Downtown Death Spiral: Charleston's Best Businesses Are Closing and It's Not Their Fault," by Peyton Steele. It resonated far and wide and echoed a lot of the concerns we've raised over the last decade+. We're still advocating for policies and practices that help manage this crisis in affordability and access to the heart of Charleston, and invite you to join us.
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Trump’s executive order won’t kill the CDFI Fund. But it could slow down one of our most powerful tools for community-based banking. - via NextCity.org
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Credit and debit card swipe fees reached $187 billion — an astonishing new record — in 2024. - via CSNews.com
Local Updates
- City of Charleston business licenses expired April 30; Renew by May 31!
- Watch Mayor Cogswell’s State of the City address from April 8.
- Check out the City of Charleston's WaterWise open house series from Office of Resilience & Sustainability.
- The City of Charleston recently announced a new environmental corridor project, “The Just Corridor”.
- The City of Charleston will host a public groundbreaking ceremony for the Ashley Landing Shopping Center revitalization project on May 7 at 10 a.m.
- Live in Mount Pleasant? Consider applying to serve on one of the Town’s boards or commissions. Learn more.
State Updates
- Only 4 days remain in this statehouse session and much remains on the debate floor, including liquor liability reform, a major issue for many of our members. Continue to push your SC house representatives to prioritize S.244.
- What SC's latest tax bill means for you - via FitsNews.com
Federal Updates
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CDC Loans has prepared a guide to help borrowers understand the new 2025 SBA loan application requirements for 7(a) and 504 loans, including updated rules for ownership documentation, E-Tran data, environmental reviews, and the return of the SBA guarantee fee. This guide breaks down what borrowers need to prepare and what lenders must collect to stay compliant and avoid delays.
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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a new regulation that exempts all U.S. small businesses from the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements. - via NFIB.com
If you’ve been following these updates for a while, you know we’ve been advocating at the federal level for more competition and fair rates in the credit card fee space. Now your business can easily advocate for the Credit Card Competition Act in store. The American Booksellers Association makes it easy:
Swipe Fees Store signage campaign with American Booksellers Association: ABA has invited you to join their in-store signage campaign urging customers to support the Credit Card Competition Act: Here are the campaign assets. ABA is also tracking state level swipe fees bills.
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Questions? Input? E-mail Jordan@lowcountrylocalfirst.org