“People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?”

                                                         Rodney King, May 1, 1992

Just in case you think the anti-regulation effort is fronted by angry disenfranchised interior decorators you need to understand that they are merely gnats on our professional backside….especially troubling is that shrill high pitched buzzing noise they make when they fly around our ears…I digress….The real forces behind the anti-regulation effort are the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) which can be confirmed at;

http://capwiz.com/nkba/home/

and the American Institute of Architects (AIA). As of late the AIA has gone underground regarding it’s position on Interior Design legislation. PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER is not a member- evidently membership has it’s priveledges. Anyway in researching this topic PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER has come across official AIA statements that confirm the AIA’s position.

http://blog.aia.org/angle/2008/01/interior_design_lobby_seeks_li.html

and in Washington State, which pursued ID legislation early in 2009 there is this;

http://www.aiawa.org/issue%20briefs/2010IB%20-%20interior%20design%20w%20bill%20numbers.pdf

If you do not have the time to read the above here is a synopsis of the Washington state AIA branch which essentially parrots the national AIA position;

KEY POINTS

• The education, training and testing of interior designers does not prepare them to have sole responsibility for the public health and safety aspects of buildings.

• There is no clear evidence that the unregulated practice can clearly harm or endanger the health, safety, or welfare of the citizens of the state.

• No other profession has a provision that mandates acceptance of plans by building code officials.

• Several other state supreme courts have overturned similar laws.

• The Washington State Department of Licensing has already recommended that “that no state licensing of interior designers

PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER believes that both of these organizations have funded anti-regulation efforts by the Institute for Justice (evidence for the AIA’s funding is hard to confirm) and as long as Interior Design legislation is the least bit anti-competitive we can count on these design allies to stand in our way.

This just does not make sense…or cents.