Beaufort County leaders can enact stay-at-home order, but can they enforce it?
Local governments in Beaufort County can enact their own stay-at-home orders similar to the ones passed in other South Carolina cities, but they can’t penalize people and businesses for not complying without orders from Gov. Henry McMaster, said John DeLoache, senior staff attorney for the South Carolina Association of Counties.
As larger cities across the state vote on and approve local stay-at-home orders in response to the rising number of confirmed coronavirus cases, leaders in Beaufort County are still hesitant and uncertain about what is and isn’t enforceable under the law. They’re telling residents to stay at home and maintain physical distance, but they’re unsure whether they can penalize those who don’t.
After residents called on county officials to follow Charleston’s lead, passing an ordinance prohibiting residents from leaving their homes to stop the spread of COVID-19, Beaufort County’s administration sought SCAC’s advice.
“Based on their guidance, I don’t think we have the authority to enact or enforce a shelter-at-home mandate,” Administrator Ashley Jacobs said Thursday.
If governments on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton, Beaufort, Port Royal and Beaufort County pass stay-at-home orders, “they can certainly ask law enforcement to warn people that are violating the stay-at-home ordinances, but short of the governor issuing a statewide order, we don’t think there’s an ability of local municipalities to enforce penalty,” DeLoache said.
The city of Columbia passed its own stay-at-home order on the heels of Charleston’s decision earlier this week, but DeLoache said these orders stop short of a true shelter-in-place.
A shelter-in-place order can come only from the governor’s office through the Emergency Health Powers Act, DeLoache said. A local order that would shut down “non-essential” businesses and require people to stay at home would conflict with the U.S. and S.C. constitutions, DeLoache said.
What local governments can do, however, is pass an ordinance that urges citizens to stay at home and non-essential businesses to close, DeLoache said. This ordinance does not allow law enforcement officers to issue civil or criminal penalties for violations, he said.
However, the ordinance Columbia officials passed, requiring city residents to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary, does allow for fines to be issued for violators.
One of the reasons other local governments, such as Beaufort County, have been so hesitant to pass stay-at-home orders is fear of violating businesses’ civil rights, DeLoache said.
He’s not sure how the courts would rule if a business fought a local stay-at-home order.
“Something like this has never really happened before,” DeLoache said.
What are other cities doing?
On Tuesday, Charleston became the first city in the state to create a stay-at-home ordinance that urges residents to leave their homes only if it’s to the grocery store, pharmacy, doctor’s office or to exercise.
The ordinance also allows for a wide-ranging number of businesses to remain open, such as restaurants and bars that use carry out or delivery, liquor stores and banks.
However, DeLoache said, it would be hard to enforce penalties against those who violate the order because S.C. allows only a statewide penalty for violation of a S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control quarantine order.
In Columbia, the city council approved a shelter-in-place ordinance on Thursday that requires residents to stay at home and avoid public streets, sidewalks and other public places, as well as businesses, unless they are conducting an “essential service.”
Those who violate the order “shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor” and fined no more than $500 and/or imprisoned for up to 30 days.
