The SC Business Licensing Officials Association promotes best practices for administering and enforcing local business license taxes to its members. It uses rigorous training sessions to help its members learn the skills and practices that will make the licensing process in their cities and towns more efficient and business-friendly.
BLOA offers its members an opportunity to achieve the Accreditation in Business Licensing. To sit for this accreditation's exam, members must first complete the three-year BLOA Training Institute, for which BLOA offers one of the three sessions each spring. Course A covers the responsibilities and procedures of business license officials; Course B adds rates and fees, the Freedom of Information Act and communication skills; and Course C addresses enforcement and personal development.
BLOA also offers a Masters in Business Licensing, achievable through a system of experience points. Members can earn points in a number of ways, including attending the BLOA Advanced Academy. The Advanced Academy for this spring will cover:
- A panel discussing the impact on business licensing of technological development that blurs the lines between the traditional economy and the digital economy;
- Regulation of small wireless facilities, which are growing in number; and
- A panel of licensing officials discussing how their cities and towns recently moved to the Municipal Association's model business license ordinance.
The BLOA Spring Training Institute and Advanced Academy will take place Wednesday, April 3, at Seawell's in Columbia. The registration deadline for the meeting is Friday, March 22.