Hackettstown, NJ — The National Kitchen & Bath Association is celebrating a pair of significant victories on the legislative front, with proposed title act legislation in New York and California having met at least a temporary defeat (see related Editorial).

In New York, the NKBA reported, Gov. David Paterson vetoed proposed legislation which would have required that anyone wishing to use the term “interior designer” be licensed by the state.

According to the NKBA, Senate Bill 3659 was vetoed by Gov. Paterson after the bill was approved by the State Senate, and met by stiff opposition from NKBA members in New York and other states.

In related news, the NKBA reported that Senate Bill 1312, the Interior Design Practice Act, has been withdrawn from the California State Senate agenda and given the status of “inactive” after an outpouring of opposition to the bill.

“In spite of intense lobbying efforts by ASID and IDCC, the (California) bill could not garner sufficient support to bring the measure to a vote,” said the NKBA, noting that the bill would have established licensing requirements “that would have made it virtually impossible for the vast majority of the design community in California to continue to practice their profession.”

The California bill, according to the NKBA, would have required that any person offering design services, including kitchen and bath design, first obtain an interior design degree from a select educational institution, complete a two-to-four-year internship under the supervision of another licensed designer, and pass an independent, unregulated exam supported by ASID and its allied organizations.

The proposed New York legislation was similar in scope and intent. That bill would have amended the state’s existing interior designer title act to restrict the use of the title “interior designer” to only those who have at least seven years of professional training consisting of academic study and work experience relating to interior design (with two to five years of post secondary education in an approved program of interior design), and required practitioners to pass both the NCIDQ exam and an exam relative to fire, safety and building codes.

According to the NKBA, Gov. Paterson agreed with arguments made in opposition to the bill, and noted that “courts have found similar legislation restricting the use of the title ‘interior designer’ in other states to be overly broad, unreasonable, and vague.”

Gov. Paterson further concluded that the bill, previously vetoed twice by former Gov. George Pataki, would also “limit new entrants into the field of interior design and, thus, restrain competition,” the NKBA said.

Lastly, the NKBA noted that the governor stated that “no evidence had been presented to suggest that any harm was occurring to the public from the continued unregulated practice of interior design.

“This echoes the findings of virtually every other study conducted by states which have already considered whether the practice of interior design should be regulated,” the association said.

Similarly, the defeat of the California legislation “was critical in allowing NKBA members to continue practicing kitchen and bath design, while also granting consumers the freedom of choice on who they wish to hire for design services,” said Edward Nagorsky, general counsel and director of legislative affairs for the Hackettstown, NJ-based NKBA.

“Our members are more than happy to compete on the merits of their skill and expertise. However, the attempts by a small number of designers to limit their competition and infringe upon their right to earn a livelihood must be opposed wherever and whenever it arises,” he said.

Nagorsky praised the efforts of the NKBA’s membership in letting the design community know about the “dangers” of the bill.

“Our members spent countless hours meeting with legislators, calling and sending letters and e-mail messages, and writing position papers opposing the legislation,” he said. “Without their hard work and dedication, we might very well have faced a different outcome.”

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