Of the 23 +/- states with some form of title or practice legislation in place Colorado is a bit unique in that they have permitting legislation in place.  PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER really does not know if existing permitting legislation  actually provides opportunities for interior designers to permit their own work, where building permits are required.  As a skeptical optimist I am dubious and judging by the Colorado Interior Design Coalition’s recent efforts to clarify their permitting privileges via Colorado SB-120  there appears to be some confusion and misinterpretation on the part of Colorado code officials.

http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2012a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/22DF4CC74546BFF887257981007E0093/$FILE/120_ren.pdf

http://www.iidarmc.org/wp-content/uploads/FINALFact+Sheet+-SB+12-120.pdf

So why should we care?

Well first of all, and most relevant to my previous post, it appears that the bill was put on hold indefinitely because the Colorado Senate was sidetracked by a same-sex union issue that consumed all levels of the state government.

http://www.naiop-colorado.org/Portals/1/PDFs/Legislative%20Docs/2012/NAIOP%202012%20End%20of%20Session%20Report.pdf

That’s politics folks.

The next point is that when we sort out our efforts to validate our professional status via legislation, the ability to own our work all the way through the code restricted process is the primary objective.  Or it should be- let’s not forget Uncle Sam makes a poor public relations officer.  There are several examples of states in which permitting privileges for sc called “qualified”, “certified” or “registered” interior designers are in place.  Based on my knowledge of California’s crazy quasi-private voluntary self-certification permitting process their results could be termed “mixed” at best. So I assume Colorado’s efforts are also mixed at best. Georgia also recently snuck in some permitting legislation in conjunction with their title act but I have not heard if it has proven effective or not.

Maybe it’s time that the proponents of ID legislation (read ASID) actually fess up and assess the status of their 40 +/- year effort to validate the profession and provide practice rights for interior designers. I suspect the results would be disappointing.

But I am more than happy to be proven wrong.