Uniting the interior design profession (again)

[Below is a guest commentary by a retired interior designer who lives in Southern California. She wrote to me this morning and asked if I would publish this for her]:

Today the Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean pleaded with the 30-member Rules and Bylaws Committee to find a resolution that will unite the party heading into the November election. “We are strong enough to struggle and disagree and even be angry and disappointed and still come together at the end of the day and be united.”

According to the CLCID website, in 1984-85 there was a real threat to the practice of interior desgn and the various design associations came together and worked for seven years to get certification established and running:

• 1984-85 – Senator John Seymour’s SB 790 sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and California Board of Architectural Examiners passes legislature and is signed by Governor George Deukmejian without opposition. SB 790 restricted practicing all design and submission of plans to building departments except those drawn under the supervision of CA licensed architects and engineers.
  
• 1990 – Senator Craven introduces SB 153. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Board of Architectural Examiners oppose it. Negotiation with both Architects and Contractors for an Interior Designers Practice Act is unsuccessful.
  
• 1990 – After being amended to “Certification” recognition, SB 153 passes through the legislative process in both the Senate and Assembly. SB 153 is approved by the Legislature and signed by Governor Deukmejian.
  
• Late 1990 – A Task Force is convened to form a certifying board.
  
• 1991 – Senator Craven authors SB 667 to amend the interior design statute section on grandparenting.
  
• 1991 – A certifying board for interior design is formed as a non-profit 501(c)(6) and titled the California Council for Interior Design Certification ( CCIDC), and the CLCID Board of Directors approves it. The CCIDC Board of Directors is established and staff is hired.
  
• 1992 – CCIDC commences certification for eligible interior designers.

Certification of interior designers that is recognized by the state and yet not burdened by the state has been praised by many including the Institute for Justice. Page 4 Executive Summary “Designing Cartels” says:

“Legislators should critically examine the need for new titling and icensure laws and
consider repealing existing regulations of questionable value. Instead, self-certification
through professional associations or non-profit boards, as in California, can help designers
and other professionals distinguish themselves without needless government oversight
that serves only to keep out aspiring entrepreneurs.”

With the recent SB 1312 that IDCC(ASID) and IIDA tried to force through (at the expense of the Calif. Architects Board, thousands of design professionals and students), they seem to have judged self-certification as inadequate, as some kind of inferior step-child to state licensing. With enormous state budget problems and no emergency status, SB 1312 died appropriately.

I do not wish for another SB 790 to bring the interior design profession together. But it would be great if everyone remembered it and realized how much can be accomplished when the profession is united.