"Registered" Interior Designers
As you may know, when the Alabama Supreme Court struck down the unconstitutional practice law in 2007, it reverted back to the original title law which was enacted in 1982. That law restricted the title "Interior Designer" to only those who met the established criteria, including passage of the NCIDQ exam.
HB 440 which repealed the old title law and replaces it with a new title law, has now been signed into law by Governor Riley.
While the bill includes some expansion of sign and seal privileges for registered interior designers, the biggest change is that there is no longer any law on the books that restricts the title "Interior Designer" in any capacity.
Congratulations Alabama designers on taking back the title that truthfully -- and now legally -- describes the work you do!
The law will be up for Sunset Review on October 1, 2013. IDPC remains opposed to any state-sanctioned regulations of interior designers. If you agree with our mission, I urge you to join our crusade NOW. IDPC will not undertake any actions to sunset the law without the support of the design community. While it may seem like a long ways away, trust me, it is not. It takes a lot of work to get positioned to remove a law from the books.
February 2010
Last chance to end licensing in Alabama!
Senate Bill 144 to continue funding
the State Board of Registration passed favorably out of committee and
is now on Governor Riley's desk waiting for his signature.
You have one last opportunity to end
anti-competitive regulation in Alabama
for good, but you must act NOW!
A NEW interior design practice bill has
been submitted to the legislature, but if Governor Riley decides to abolish the
Board, it would send a very strong message that interior design licensing is
not needed in your state, and the legislature will most likely not
consider any design practice bill. EVER.
Like virtually every other state, Alabama has a severe budget crunch, and if
the Governor receives a LOT of letters requesting that he save the state
precious funds being wasted on this frivolous Board, there is a very good
chance that he will decide to sunset the board.
Please take a minute and write to the
Governor. You can adapt the sample letter we provided in our last news
alert, or you can write your own. Contact information is:
The Honorable Bob Riley
Governor of Alabama
State Capitol
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama
36130
Fax
#334.353.0004
SUNSET Alabama interior design title law!
On 1/12/10, SB 144. another bill for sunset review of the state's title law was introduced.
Under existing law, termination dates are established for enumerated state agencies. The agencies are periodically reviewed by the Alabama Sunset Committee. After the review process is completed, the committee prepares its recommendations for the agencies to the Legislature in the form of sunset bills which either continue, terminate, or continue with modification each agency are reviewed. This bill would provide for the continuance of the Alabama State Board of Registration for Interior Design until October 1, 2011.
As you may recall. last year we were very, very close to getting the board sunset, but our efforts were derailed by a compromise meeting between the members of the Alabama Interior Design Coalition (AIDC) and a few opposition members who honestly but mistakenly agreed to meet with AIDC against the strong advice of IDPC and IJ. And sure enough, AIDC did exactly what we had warned they would -- they testified at the Sunset hearing that the two sides were "very close to an agreement," even though no such agreement had taken place.
On 2/16/10, SB 144 was referred to the House Committee on Boards and Registration, and on 2/17/10 was read for the second time in second House Committee, so there is no time to lose...
YOU HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO RID ALABAMA OF THIS UNNECESSARY, ANTI-COMPETITIVE LAW!
BUT YOU HAVE TO ACT NOW...
Contact the members of the Committee and ask them to SUNSET the Interior Design Board, as it serves no legitimate public interests and costs precious taxpayer dollars to fund.
Click here for contact information on Committee Members.
Click here for sample letter to Committee (YOUR OWN WORDS would be better)
Click here to read Judge Lee's ruling in favor of Injunctive Relief
Only through an overwhelming response from the design community will the Committee take the appropriate action to SUNSET the Board.
DO YOU WANT TO GET RID OF THIS LAW FOR GOOD?
Then you must act NOW. Please take a few minutes to contact the Committee.