As you may or may not know, SB 1312 proposes to regulate the practice of interior design in the state of CA - and to criminalize violations. It is a terrible piece of legislation for many reasons, and would impose draconian penalties on interior designers for merely practicing their professions as they already do today, and discriminates against a variety of people - including the mentally ill.

Please, please, take the time to read SB 1312 as amended on March 24, 2008 (see link below), and write to your state senators and members of the B&P Committee (links also below) by April 8 asking them to oppose this proposed legislation.

Please also attend the hearing on April 14th at 1:30pm in Sacramento in the State Capitol Room 3191 to voice your opposition to this bill.

SB 1312 full text - tinyurl.com/5xkeyo
State Senators' email addresses - tinyurl.com/3okf8q
B&P Committee - tinyurl.com/2hh439


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Amended SB 1312 is bad for consumers and bad for the state.

It's just bad legislation!

Please oppose SB 1312, for the following reasons:

Legislation has been proposed by IDCC/ASID/IIDA that discriminates against interior designers and would result in higher costs to consumers and to the state.

* SB 1312 will exclude many designers from becoming registered because of hard-to-meet requirements.

* SB 1312 will "criminalize" certain acts by interior designers, subjecting them to severe penalties.

* SB 1312 does not protect the consumer from harm and does not justify adding another layer of bureaucracy at taxpayer's expense to our already overburdened state budget.

* SB 1312 will raise exam and licensing costs (and may raise liability insurance), all of which will result in higher prices passed on to the consumer.

* SB 1312 requires the NCIDQ only. This is an expensive private exam (currently $1,120.00) with strict registration requirements that are difficult to achieve. As a private exam, the NCIDQ can raise their fees and requirements should they so choose without any oversight by the state of California.

* SB 1312 calls for "experience only" to qualify to become registered, but the NCIDQ exam does not allow "experience only" to register for the exam.

* SB 1312 requires all registrants to personally appear before a board in Sacramento to take an oath at candidate expense.

* SB 1312 has no provision for a registered interior designer to submit plans to local building officials and state agencies.

* The practice of interior design does _not_ materially affect the health, safety, and welfare of people in any significant enough way to warrant legislating it, or turning “violators” of such laws into criminals.

* "Designing Cartels: How Industry Insiders Cut Out the Competition" by the Institute for Justice at www.ij.org/pdf_folder/e...ign-Study.pdf offers a complete explanation of this and many other reasons to oppose all interior design legislation.

* SB 1312 does not protect consumers from harm. Existing building codes and the permitting process already provide redundant controls on anything an interior designer might want to do that might even conceivably affect the health and safety of the consumer.

* SB 1312 would constitute restraint of trade. It would put thousands of interior designers and decorators in California out of work in 2011 if it passes because it will become illegal for them to practice virtually any aspect of their professions.

* SB 1312 discriminates against the mentally ill. The language in SB1312 is much too vague to provide even the most basic protection of people from discrimination for these reasons, and as a result, may well be unconstitutional.

* SB 1312 defines "interior design" in such a restrictive way that most designers would no longer even be allowed to specify paint, upholstery or drapery fabrics, or furniture in a wide variety of situations – or even be allowed to sketch a simple furniture plan to help clients visualize where their furniture would go.

* Live Free and Design livefreeanddesign.org has a great deal more information about why interior design legislation in general is a bad idea, and the truth about what other states are doing with respect to this issue.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. I hope I can count on you to do the right thing, for California, and for my profession.