New Alabama Practice Act Will Put Most Designers Out of Business – Protect Your Right to Practice!

Here’s a link to the archived version of this post, since it’s gotten cut off here, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Please visit the NoDesignLegislation blog at http://nodesignlegislation.wordpress.com for more information on interior design legislation.

Interior Design Protection Council Protect Your Right to Practice! NEW Alabama Practice Act will PUT YOU OUT OF BUSINESS Senate Bill 344 and House Bill 491 are anti-competitive and anti-consumer! Members of the Alabama design community: As we previously reported, the Alabama State Board of Registration for Interior Designers tried a back-door — and we believe illegal — attempt to reinstate the unconstitutional practice act by simply amending the language and not going through the appropriate legislative process. And it might have worked, if IDPC, ADAD, IJ and NKBA had not thoroughly exposed and thwarted their under-the-radar tactics. So now they have introduced a new practice act in the Senate (SB 344) and in the House (HB 491), and allegedly they are going to try and ram it through both houses within the next two weeks. This even more restrictive and confusing practice act is mislabeled as the Alabama Interior Design Consumer Protection Act, when in fact, the only people protected by this act are the 262 licensed interior designers in the state who will be protected from YOU and your [superior] design abilities. The bill contains a broad, loose definition of interior design which will surely cover the many services you provide. Interior design is defined to include: programming, conducting research, identifying and analyzing the needs and goals of the client or occupant of the space, assessing project resources and limitations, developing project schedules and budgets specifications, studies, and research, reflected ceiling plans, space utilization, furnishings, floor plans, including preliminary space layouts and final planning, construction documents, the fabrication of nonstructural elements within and surrounding interior spaces of buildings, and construction administration to monitor the contractor progress relating to nonstructural interior elements of a building or structure YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO PRACTICE AS YOU HAVE BEEN DOING SINCE THE PREVIOUS PRACTICE ACT WAS DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Although poorly drafted and without actually saying so, under the proposed law, no person may render interior design services without a license. In order to obtain a license, you must: Have an accredited degree in interior design. DO YOU HAVE AN APPROVED DEGREE? Prove, to the satisfaction of NCIDQ, that you have a minimum of 2-4 years of interior design experience under the direct supervision of a registered interior designer or licensed architect. Pass the NCIDQ exam. WILL YOU EVEN BE ELIGIBLE TO SIT FOR THE TEST? PROBABLY NOT. IT REQUIRES A DEGREE IN INTERIOR DESIGN AND BETWEEN 2-4 YEARS OF FULL-TIME, DIVERSIFIED INTERIOR DESIGN EXPERIENCE UNDER THE DIRECT SUPERVISION OF A LICENSED OR NCIDQ CERTIFIED INTERIOR DESIGNER OR ARCHITECT BEFORE YOU CAN TAKE THE TEST. And they determine exactly what “diversified” means! GRANDFATHERING? Only if you already have a license, will you be allowed to continue to practice. EXEMPTIONS? You will be “allowed” to provide consultations, NOT DESIGN. There are other problems with the proposed bill, such as the Board’s ability to suspended or revoke your license if it finds that you violated any standards of professional conduct that they decide and file legal proceedings against you should it be determined that you were practicing interior design without a license. IF THAT HAPPENS, YOUR CLIENTS COULD REFUSE TO PAY YOU FOR THE WORK THAT YOU PERFORMED AND YOU HAVE NO RECOURSE IN THE COURTS! And of course, the Board has the power to impose fines and sanctions up to $2,000! CONSUMER PROTECTION? Absolutely NOT! Not a shred of evidence has ever been presented to warrant a conclusion that the unregulated practice of interior design places the public in any form of jeopardy. In fact, 12 government agencies have looked into this issue and concluded that interior design licensing does nothing to protect the public beyond the processes already in place. Click here for a list and access to all 12 government reports. DID YOU KNOW THAT…. Practice laws affect more than just interior designers? In Florida, approximately 22 professions have been the subject of disciplinary actions. If you work in any of the following professions, beware — if SB 344 and HB 491 are enacted, you could be fined or even lose your ability to earn a living: *interior designer *interior decorator *office furniture dealer *residential furniture dealer *restaurant equipment dealer *flooring company *wall covering supplier *fabric vendor *builder *real estate stager *real estate developer *realty company *remodeler *accessories retailer *antiques dealer *engineer *drafting services *lighting company *florist *kitchen design *upholstery workroom *carpet retail *art dealer Even if you are an extremely successful or even a “celebrity” designer, you will not be sheltered from this law. In Florida, even internationally known designers like Kelly Wearsler, Hirsch Bedner Assoc., Juan Montayo, Clive Christian, and Phillip Sides were victims of ruthless disciplinary actions. IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED! You must act now to let the members of the BOTH the Senate and House Committees know that, especially in this difficult economic climate, the state government should pass no legislation which would make it more difficult for its citizens to compete in the free and open market unless there is clear and compelling evidence — which is clearly lacking here. IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED: Write to each committee member. A fax is best, followed by email if you don’t have access to a fax machine. Your letter should be no longer than one page. Call each Senate and House committee member, register your name, town, bill number and that you are opposed to it. Rally students to write as well. Licensing HURTS not helps them. Ask your clients, vendors, friends, family, and other consumers, to call or write to the committee on your behalf — especially if they are constituents of the member. If you live in a surrounding state but work or plan to do design work in Alabama, then you also need to contact the Committee to protect your rights. Click here for contact information on SENATE SMALL BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Click here for contact information on HOUSE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS COMMITTEE Click here to read SB 344. Click here to read HB 491. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at legislation@IDPCinfo.org Patti Morrow Executive Director Interior Design Protection Council Support our efforts to protect Minnesota interior designers’ rights and livelihoods. Click here to become a member of IDPC. Join Our Mailing List!

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Protect Your Right to Practice Interior Design

Please see the No Design Legislation blog at http://nodesignlegislation.wordpress.com for further information, extensive links about fighting interior design legislation in all affected states, and to discuss the issues. Please post your legislation-related comments there.

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Concerned about your right to practice interior design anywhere in the country? Think you’re alone?

No, there’s a very strong grassroots opposition movement well underway spearheaded by the Institute for Justice and the Interior Design Protection Council (IDPC), and a wide range of individual grassroots organizations in affected states – and we’re having huge success blocking anticompetive laws, and in some cases, having existing ones overturned.

All this takes money, though. ASID reportedly has spent nearly $6,000,000 to the date of this post on their campaign to disenfranchise the majority of designers and has an army of paid lobbyists. We’re winning, as my previous post indicated, and expanding like crazy as money comes in to pay the support staff, despite being all volunteers, and operating on donations.

Join IJ and IDPC today to help fight anti-competitive legislation nationwide, and preserve interior designers’ right to make a living at our chosen profession. Please also see the No Design Legislation blog for a list of links to individual known state grassroots opposition organizations.

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