Thank you Wall Street Journal for an excellent op-ed piece about why interior design legislation is not a good thing. Do I really need a degree to suggest colors or decorate some one’s home? Puh-lease. Code protects consumers from fire issues and other potential “threats to safety” as feared by ASID. The market will weed out the rest.
Certain states like NV and until recently Alabama have instituted very, very restrictive legislature in which even in homes a professional cannot work as a designer unless having passed a national licensing test. Watch out for that Pillow by Clark Neily on 4/1/8. The interesting letters to the editor entitled Hospitals and Homes: What Qualifications Are Right for Designers? follow in today’s paper.
What do I think? Of all the letters posted, I am alligned with Jennifer M. Perkins Staff Attorney at the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, who wrote: “As Interior designers throughout this country should be free to pursue the credentials they feel best prepare them for the job, and then be responsible for competing in the marketplace by demonstrating they are actually good at the job — not by simply making their competition illegal.”
What do you think? Please do check out the articles and write in! Would love to hear your thoughts!!! It’s an intersting issue in our profession.
