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Health, Safety and Welfare*

Every decision an interior designer makes in one way or another affects the health, safety and welfare of the public.  Those decisions include specifying furniture, fabrics and carpeting that comply with fire codes and space planning that provides proper means of egress.  Additionally, interior designers deal with accessibility issues, ergonomics, lighting, acoustics and design solutions for those with special needs. 

*excerpt from Grassroots Legislative Training Manual, ASID

Legislative Terms for Interior Designers* 

Types of Interior Design Legislation: 

Title Act – Regulates the use of a title, such as “registered interior designer,” and are enacted in order to raise public awareness of the qualifications of professional interior designers in a particular state.  Title acts do not require individuals to become licensed in order to practice interior design, nor do they restrict an individual from providing the service of interior design.  A person cannot, however, advertise nor represent themselves as a “registered” interior designer unless they meet the minimum education, experience and examination requirements established in that state and they fully apply for use of the state-regulated title with the proper state board. 

Practice Act – A type of law that requires an individual to have a license in order to practice a profession.  Practice acts prohibit the performance of professional services by anyone not licensed by the state agency charged with the duty of regulating that profession.

Titles for Interior Designers: 

Certified Interior Designer – A person who has met certain education, experience and examination requirements and is registered with the interior design board in their state. Usually this title is reserved for states with title acts. 

Registered Interior Designer - A person who has met certain education, experience and examination requirements and is registered with the interior design board in their state.  This title can be used with either a title act or a practice act. 

Licensed Interior Designer – A person who has met certain education, experience and examination requirements and is registered with the interior design board in t heir state.  Usually, this designation is reserved for states with practice acts.

General Legislative Terms: 

Bill – a proposed new law or a proposed change to current law presented to the legislature for consideration.

·        Assembly Bill – A bill that is introduced in the Assembly of the General Legislature

·        House Bill – A bill that is introduced in the House of the General Legislature

·        Senate Bill – A bill that is introduced in the Senate of the General Legislature

 Amendment – Any alteration made or proposed to be made to a bill, motion or clause by adding, changing, substituting or omitting portions of the measure in question.  Amendments may be made at the appropriate time in committee or on the floor.

 Effective Date – The date on which a measure actually becomes law.

 Hearing – A session of a legislative committee at which witnesses present testimony on matters under consideration by the committee.

 Introduction – The filing of a measure for consideration by the legislature.  A measure is considered introduced upon its first reading and is assigned a number at that time..

 Readings – Presentation of a bill or joint resolution.  In most legislative bodies, every measure must receive three readings before passage, none of which may be on the same day.  A forth reading occurs at the time of final action.

·        First Reading – the measure is introduced and only its title is read for the first time.  The measure us assigned a bill number at this time.

·        Second Reading – The title of the measure is read for the second time and it is referred to a committee.

·        Third Reading – The measure is read at length on the floor of the legislature before a vote is taken.

·        Forth Reading – Amendments from the opposite house or a conference committee report on a measure are read before a vote is taken.  If a measure has passed both houses in the same form, a forth reading occurs upon the signature of the president officer.

 Statute – A law enacted by the legislature.

 Interior Design Legislative Terms: 

Grandfather Clause – Alters the education and/or examination requirements, for a specific period of time, for individuals who have not yet met al of the legal registration requirements in new legislation.  This gives those individuals a “window of opportunity” to meet the professional standards and become registered by the state.

 Permitting Privileges – Used to describe the ability of a state-authorized design professional to submit his/her own stamped or sealed plans to a building code official for the purposes of issuing a permit to begin work on a project.

 Registered Design Professional – As defined by the ICC International Codes, an individual who is registered or licensed to practice his/her respective design profession as defined by the statutory requirements of the professional registration laws of the state or jurisdiction in which the project is to be constructed.  As individual states adopt the ICC International Codes, it is important that states maintain this inclusive definition of “registered design professional” and that states’ interior design laws recognize interior designers as “registered design professionals”.

 Sunset – The automatic termination of a government program or agency unless deliberately reauthorized by law.  Many states that have interior design legislation must demonstrate to the legislature that regulation of designers is still needed and should continue.  This is done by demonstrating the value of the interior design registration law.

 Tiered Registration – Occurs when a law establishes different categories of registration, each with different qualifications for registration.  In doing so, tiered interior design registration creates an unnatural distinction within the interior design profession.  Tiers in interior design legislation distinguish either between titles or areas of specialization.

 *excerpt from Grassroots Legislative Training Manual, ASID