Just got the word that Governor Daniels has signed the interior design bill………

On Tuesday, May 12, 2009, the caption above came to me via e-mail on my way into work. Instantly, nearly fifteen years of work towards this one goal flashed across my mind. The success of this bill cannot be discussed without mentioning all the hard work and effort of many people and an accumulation of many years of planning.

Most importantly………we never gave up. Sometimes it took a change in the cast and like this year, it took a change in strategy. This years strategy leveraged our collective experiences, relationships and political awareness with a new concept. Thus a “Registry for Interior Designers” outside the formal framework of the PLA” or “professional license agency” was born.

The FINAL Synopsis of the 2009 Bill:

1. Professional registration for Interior Designers; requires the professional licensing agency to create an electronic registry for Interior Designers.
2. Establishes registration criteria for Interior Designers based upon the requirements set by NCIDQ (The National Council for Interior Design Qualification).
3. To become grandfathered before December 31, 2011 the following must be completed:
• Received at least two (2) years of interior design education & has practiced in the field of interior design for at least Ten (10) years.
OR
• Has practiced interior design for at least fifteen (15) years.

To all my professional colleagues and fellow stakeholders, I commend each and everyone who contributed to our effort. Through this collective effort, we have secured a better future for the discipline of interior design. We have now joined forces with 26 other states in the US, Canada and Country’s throughout the world that have enacted Interior Design Registration Laws.

Most importantly, we have elevated the value of our profession for young professionals and our students who are already becoming our State’s next generation of “creative professional talent”!

Now the real work begins! With recognition comes responsibility. According to our states numbers there are nearly 1200 interior designers in our state (338) who have passed the NCIDQ exam. This leaves approximately 800 interior design professionals who may qualify under the registries requirements.

Now we must prepare an aggressive outreach campaign to not only reach our own professionals in industry but we must also reach many other allied professionals and stakeholders; Architects, Engineers, Contractors, landscape Architects, Developers, Real Estate Brokers, Facility Managers, Students, Educators, Clients and Industry Partners such as Product Manufacturers, Product Representatives and Furniture Dealers; to name a few! We must be prepared to THINK about them and their interest as it relates to the discipline of interior design, INFORM them of this new law, and EDUCATE.

We must prepare a plan that works to minimize the divisions between professions and stresses the importance of consistent and accurate representation of the discipline of interior design.

As we move forward, I welcome your thoughts, ideas and comments. For now, I’m signing off with a big smile on my face!

Submitted by;

Jill Mendoza