AN ARGUMENT WHEN LEGISLATION BECOMES TOO MUCH.
Can you guess which of the four designs shown below became a criminal act, the GUILTY design firm slapped with a court order to cease and desist and faces criminal penalties and fines for design work?
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, a world class luxury resort, recently refurbished the Forum Tower Suites.
Atlantis Phase III, The Cove Tower, Paradise Island, The Bahamas
The Ritz-Carlton Millenia, Singapore
Hotel Grande Bretagne, Athens GreeceAnd yet, by designing equaling thrilling spaces in Florida and the same design firm faces criminal charges. Yes, criminal charges and fines for practicing design. And so it goes the highly acclaimed firm, Hirsch Bedner Associates, joins the growing list of design firms and other notable national designers, namely Kelly Wearstler from Los Angeles, hired to redesign the Tides Hotel in Florida; and Juan Montoya of New York, named to Architectural Digest's Top 100 Designers list, all who have been accused of designing without a certificate in the state of Florida, subject to criminal charges and fines.
Is this the effort of the state of
If Hirsch Bedner Associates obtains the certificate to practice design in the State of
In the 30 years that ASID has been pushing for regulation, no evidence has been presented that the unregulated practice of interior design places the public in any form of jeopardy.
See Probable Cause Panel Meeting at
Here is the Hirsch Bedner Associates citation below:
Hirsch Bedner & Associates
Case No. 2007-068978
Probable cause was found that Hirsch Bedner & Associates of
ASID is up against a fight. When the goal of a few is to dominate the profession of the majority with anti-competitive and anti-consumer legislation, even ASID’s cadre of attorneys will not be able to counter the growing opposition. The public and several organizations who oppose anti-American, anti-freedom design cartels refuse to be silent and will oppose the legislation at every turn.
The National Kitchen and Bath Association, NKBA, has many concerns about these attempts to co-opt the interior design market.
“While interior designers are deserving of respect for their role in the design process, special legislative consideration is not warranted based on an objective review of the facts. In truth, these bills protect the economic interests of a few within the interior design community and in no way promote or advance any rational, justifiable or necessary public policy. As such, NKBA joins with the vast majority of the design community in opposing these unjustifiable attempts to monopolize the interior design profession.”
Source: http://www.kbbonline.com/kbb/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003806153
As the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies put it, there is "no evidence of physical or financial harm being caused to . . . consumers by the unregulated practice of interior designers."
In vetoing interior design legislation last May, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels explained that the "principal effect" of the law would have been "to restrain competition and limit new entrants into the occupation."
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120701341410579079.html?mod=djemITP
Institute for Justice’s communications team provided key support, this time by bringing ASID’s cartel’s nationwide efforts to the attention of nationally syndicated columnist
Source: http://www.ij.org/publications/liberty/2007/16_3_07_c.html
Additional Opponents to Interior Design Legislation includes:
BSA (Boston Society of Architects)
NKBA (National Kitchen & Bath Association)
RAM (Retailers Association of Massachusetts)
NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses)
Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Building Inspectors
IJ (The Institute For Justice)
Live Free and Design
Massachusetts Fire Chiefs oppose Interior Design Legislation
http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/pdf/fire_chiefs.pdf
http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/pdf/bldg_inspectors.pdf
More cases against this legislation can be found at http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/
http://www.reason.org/ps361.pdf
http://interiordesignbusiness.net/category/careers-and-job-outlook/
WHO OPPOSES SB 1312? (
The opponents of this bill are
CLCID
NKBA
IDS
IFDA
IDPC (Interior Design Protection Council)
AIA
CAB (
CALBO (
Los Rios Community College District
WHFA (Western Home Furnishings Association)
Lumber Association of
NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry)
AIBD (American
The Home Depot
California Retailers Association, and several others.
The California Council for Interior Design Certification, CCIDC, issued a statement against a practice act in
“It is the opinion of the CCIDC board that this bill does nothing to improve the current certification program in
Source: http://www.ccidc.org/eNews/sb_1312.html
ASID contends that interior designers are asking to be allowed to practice their profession through means of a practice act. ASID would like to convince the public that a practice act is a necessary means to protect the publics’ health, safety and welfare.
The Practice Act does nothing to further the protection of public health, safety and welfare. It is merely another layer of legislation. The increased costs will be passed onto the consumer.
According to the article in Interior Sources, May 2008, ASID Update: A Goal of Licensure, Not Limitation by ASID President Rita Carson Guest, FASID, ASID’s argument in favor of legislation is a moot point by the author’s own admission.
The author states: “…we are asking to be allowed to practice our profession.” To those who say to us, "Why do you need a law for interior designers?" we say, interior design is already regulated de facto. The law is there to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public, and we support that. But those laws are preventing interior designers from fully practicing their profession. We simply want states to grant interior design professionals who meet the necessary qualifications to be permitted to offer their services. We want to loosen the restriction on interior design professionals, not add a new one.”
What double talk is this? No one is preventing interior designers from fully practicing. What law is Mrs. Carson Guest referring to that is preventing interior designers from practicing their profession?
The only limitation is ASID’s legislative lobbying efforts to limit other designers from practicing. Look at the witch hunt ongoing in Florida. Currently, three states have practice acts in place –
The practice act legislation is a circular argument and flawed. CIRCULAR: 1) By admitting there are laws in place that protect the health, safety and welfare of the public is an admission that a practice act is redundant to existing codes. FLAW: 2) No one is preventing designers from practicing their profession. Yet, the ASID proponents of the practice act, by asking for permission to practice by passing the NCIDQ exam will limit who can take the exam. In
ASID's Practice Act is anti-competitive and anti-consumer.
The legislative proposals advocated by a small handful of designers which would create a restrictive practice act to control who may provide interior design services and discriminate against thousands of existing interior designers and students who are currently enrolled in college interior design programs and will not be able to become licensed under such proposals.
In California, several qualified Kitchen designers I know, some who hold CMKBD status, would have to go back to school to earn the right to take the NCIDQ Exam, find work (which could be hard to find), as an intern under a Certified Interior Designer to earn work experience credit. Currently, previous work experience for a Kitchen and Bath design firm does not count. This may proof wholly ineffective for a Kitchen and Bath designer who would have to work for a commercial designer that specifies system interiors for offices. How does this push for regulation protect the health, safety and welfare of the public ? It only serves to devastate the earning potential of a qualified designer who must go back to college and take a pay cut to work as an intern to sit for the expensive NCIDQ exam. NCIDQ, which has a historically low pass rate of arond 40%, is not the standard for minimum competency. It is just one of several exams that are equally valid, and arguably, the NCIDQ is not even the best.
Few designers even bother to take the NCIDQ exam because it is generally considered irrelevant by designers and more importantly, by their clients. Perhaps this lack of initiative is the true reason for trying to legislate what should continue to be a voluntary certification process.
Watching the disaster of
Fortunately Americans don't take kindly to injustice. Grass roots efforts have been effective in fighting back legislation in California, Texas and Arizona. More work needs to be done to overturn this Draconian law in Florida and prevent laws from passing in New York.
The ASID Practice Act legislation is too broad. The CKD and CBD exams are not considered a legitimate substitute, despite the fact that these are the prevailing standards of kitchen and bath design expertise.
“The definition of "interior designers" is very broad based,” contends
WHAT IS A PRACTICE ACT?
Obtaining a license would require a designer to take the NCIDQ exam and study at institutions mandated by ASID and other allied organizations.
In
California's SB1312 Practice Act will raise exam and licensing cost which will result in higher prices passed on to the consumer. It will only add additional cost to the services that an interior designer provides making it more exclusive and out of reach for many consumers.
California's Senate
California's SB 1312 will exclude many designers from becoming registered because of hard-to-meet requirements. Further, it will “criminalize” certain acts. Section 5751 states any person who violates any provisions of the law, is subject to severe penalties; guilty of a misdemeanor, and fines up to $10,000.
Section 5800 of the Business and Professions Code already establishes the Certified Interior Designer Law and the California Council for Interior Design Certification (CCIDC).
To become registered, Senate
If you can’t take the exam, you can’t become registered. The NCIDQ exam also does not test for knowledge of California Codes and Regulations as provided by current state law.
The impact of such a law would have far reaching consequences on the design community. This sort of regulation law would put many thousands of designers, decorators, contractors and retailers out of business without any demonstrable showing of harm to the public from the failure to license the interior design profession.
LEGISLATION IN
In
Would consumers be affected by regulation of interior design?
Yes -- and in an extremely negative way. The Federal Trade Commission concluded that regulation would result in fewer choices and increased costs to the consumer. Regulation would take away consumers' freedom to choose a designer based on their needs. Currently, consumers have many avenues to determine the qualifications of interior designers -- portfolios, websites, resumes, interviews, private certification programs such as NKBA-CKD and CBD, CQRID, NCIDQ, and state code exams. The public does not lack the ability to make informed choices and regulation would take this choice away from consumers and put it in the hands of the government.
References:
SB Senate Bill1312
Kitchen and Bath Design News : The Right to Practice. May 2007
http://www.ccidc.org/eNews/sb_1312.html
BOARD OF ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN
http://www.kbbonline.com/kbb/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003806153
Interior Sources, May 2008, ASID Update: A Goal of Licensure, Not Limitation
http://brentwilliams.wordpress.com/
http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/
http://www.reason.org/ps361.pdf
http://www.azidalert.org/
http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/pdf/fire_chiefs.pdf
http://interiordesignbusiness.net/category/careers-and-job-outlook/
http://www.interiordesignfreedom.org/pdf/bldg_inspectors.pdf
http://www.ij.org/publications/liberty/2007/16_3_07_c.html






























