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Students push for interior design bill

March 26, 2008

Interior design students at MSU are teaming with interior designers statewide to get a package of bills passed in the Michigan Senate that would regulate and license their trade.

MSU’s student chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers has written letters and met with senators to tell them about the bills, said Katherine Brummel, the group’s vice president and interior design senior.

In Michigan, anyone can claim to be an interior designer regardless of education or experience. A law passed a decade ago restrains the “scope of service” an interior designer can perform, said Linda Thomas, president of the Coalition for Interior Design Registration.

“It only credentialized interior design,” Thomas said. “It didn’t register or license it.”

Twenty-six states require licensing of interior designers, so many MSU interior design graduates leave the state, she said.

“I really think that the student meetings and letters have more impact than the (interior design) professionals because we’re the future,” Brummel said.

Michigan’s pending legislation would solve the problem, said Rep. Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale. Mesiner and Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, introduced the bills.

“The current system is impeding commerce and entrepreneurship in the state,” Meisner said.

Brummel said this is a concern for legislators because the lack of licensing could be sending interior design jobs and new businesses out of state.

“Interior design is an entrepreneurial profession where designers go out and start their own businesses,” Brummel said.

If the legislation passes, it will clarify boundaries between interior design and related professions, said Meghan Bennett, an interior design senior and media and publicity chairwoman for the group.

“For students, it will sort of make our education something that is beneficial,” Bennett said. “It sort of validates our education.”

In Michigan, only “registered design professionals” are permitted to submit documents like layouts and floor plans to building code officials.

Since interior designers are not licensed as registered design professionals, their plans are not being approved for permits.

“Designers who have worked for many years and who have gone to school are finding that builders aren’t accepting their work,” said Kevin McKinney, a lobbyist for the Coalition for Interior Design Registration.

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