Advocacy

Legislation

Interior Design legislation helps establish and maintain professional standards that protect the health, safety and welfare of the general public. IIDA firmly believes that legal recognition, achieved through licensing, registration, and certification brings uniformity to the profession, defines responsibility, and encourages excellence in the Interior Design industry.

Currently, Interior Designers who are trained and qualified to work in a code-impacted environment are restricted from practicing to their fullest abilities. As the only major, unlicensed participants in the construction industry, these Interior Designers lack the ability to independently stamp and submit their work for building permits as required by the building code.

Newsletter

Spring, 2024 Issue

  • Why license Interior Design?

    ...to provide accountability for consumers

    ...to enable Interior Designers to act as primary contractors on jobs and eliminate the need to pay architects or engineers to redraw, stamp and sign their work

    ...to encourage economic development by allowing a greater number of business to compete for commercial design work

  • How does legal recognition protect the public?

    It will safeguard the public by creating accountability. Consumers will know they're working with qualified, responsible professionals utilizing the latest information regarding health, safety, and welfare, and who have met specific, nationally accepted standards of minimum competency, including education (university and continuing education), experience and examination (NCIDQ).

  • Would regulation within the profession put non-registered designers out of business?

    No. Registration would be optional for those who wish to work on qualified projects. For those who want to continue practicing within the guidelines of the current legislation there would be no change.

  • Would legal recognition of Interior Design create unnecessary regulation?

    No. The registration of Interior Designers does not create any new regulation. It would allow qualified professionals to increase their scope of practice and work within an already heavily regulated industry.

Education

Part of being an advocate is knowing your local legislation.

Massachusetts: Senate Bill S.2408

Connecticut: Chapter 396a

Maine: Title 32

Industry Specific Concepts

 When speaking with legislators and the community-at-large, it is important as an advocate to be able to explain these industry specific concepts.

What is Interior Design?

as defined by the Council for Interior Design Qualification, Inc.

Who are Interior Designers and what do they do?

This Page Coming Soon!

What are the differences between Interior Design and Interior Decorating?

This Page Coming Soon!

Contact the Advocacy Committee

If you would like to become more involved, have questions about current legislation, or want to learn more about advocacy efforts in New England, contact Krista Easterly, Vice President of Advocacy, at keasterly@sasaki.com 

Spotlight

IIDA VP of Advocacy, Krista Easterly, on behalf of the hardworking IIDA NE Advocacy Team:

Massachusetts Updates:

We are gearing up for a busy spring as we hope to move our Bill forward in the State House. As a reminder, the Bill we are seeking to have passed is:

· Senate Bill S.2408 - An Act Relative to Advancing the Profession of Commercial Interior Design https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/S2408

Our Bill is currently in the Senate Ways and Means Committee waiting to be considered and approved by the Committee. Once the Bill is reviewed and moves forward, it will move on to the House Ways and Means Committee. In the interim, our team is tirelessly working to reach out to our member constituents across the state to connect with their legislators and ask for their support for our Bill. Over the coming months you will continue to hear from us asking for you to pitch in and help us out in this effort. If our Bill is not passed by the end of 2024, we will need to refile the bill and start back at the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee. We want to keep pushing forward this momentum and we ask you to keep the conversations going on the importance of our Bill!

If you want to get involved but want to learn more about the legislation or learn important talking points to use, reach out to Krista Easterly at keasterly@sasaki.com at any time.

Please stay tuned for updates on social media, via email, and our soon-to-be-launched Advocacy newsletter.

Rhode Island Updates:

Over the past year, a group of IIDA and ASID members have teamed forces to start a grassroots effort seeking Interior Design legislation in Rhode Island. Together we have formed the Rhode Island Consortium for Interior Design. We are working with our National partners at IIDA, ASID, and CIDQ to build momentum and gain support across the State.

Please reach out to Krista Easterly at keasterly@sasaki.com if you are a Rhode Island resident and you are interested in pitching in!

Where we are:

Our Bills are sitting in the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure waiting to be reviewed and approved by an Executive Session of the same Committee. If they are approved in this Session, they will move on to the Ways and Means Committee. In July we had a productive hearing with the JCCPPL where a group of individuals from IIDA, ASID and CIDQ testified about the importance of our bills and how the lack of an option for a path to licensure for Interior Designers is limiting the career growth for many individuals in our industry and is creating road blocks for progress. Over the coming months we will be calling on YOU to pitch in and help us out in these efforts. We will need letters of support written and we will ask that you reach out to your local legislatures when the time is right to ask them to support our Bills on your behalf.

Please stay tuned for updates!

Sincerely,
Krista Easterly, IIDA
IIDA New England VP of Advocacy

  • MASSACHUSETTS

    LOCAL ADVOCACY MASSACHUSETTS LEADERSHIP

  • CONNECTICUT

    LOCAL ADVOCACY CONNECTICUT LEADERSHIP

  • MAINE

    LOCAL ADVOCACY MAINE LEADERSHIP

Contact the Advocacy Committee

If you would like to become more involved, have questions about current legislation, or want to learn more about advocacy efforts in New England, contact Krista Easterly, Vice President of Advocacy, at keasterly@sasaki.com 

The Advocacy Fund is a campaign to raise awareness and resources for Interior Design Advocacy in the New England Region. By adding a nominal charge for each event hosted by IIDA NE, we remind ourselves that advancing our profession and giving back to our IIDA NE community is the core mission of our Organization. Small individual contributions throughout our community can make a large impact and promote the value of our profession.*

*At the conclusion of each calendar year, all funds raised will be distributed throughout our Chapter to fund legislative efforts, help assist members that are seeking professional licensure and support efforts to build awareness about the profession of interior design. The initiatives that this fund will support is organized and executed by the IIDA NE Advocacy Committee.