Advocacy Committee

Committee Statement:

The Advocacy Committee’s Mission is to advocate for and advance the interior design profession in New York State, by promoting the unique value of interior designers to the broader design community, members of state and local governments, and the public, and by pursuing policies and initiatives important to interior designers.

Committee Goals:

The Committee’s long-term goals, outlined below, broadly include improvements to the public perception and legal status of interior designers in New York. As for short-term goals, the Committee seeks to simplify the state’s education requirements for Certified Interior Designers and to increase public awareness of the role and value of interior designers.

1. Increase public awareness of the role and value of interior designers in design and construction.
2. Encourage equality of entry into the marketplace for interior designers.
3. Educate the public on what it means to be a certified interior designer and an ASID member.
4. Advocate for and support allied and student members seeking to take the NCIDQ exam.
5. Coordinate with other NY Metro Chapter committees to advocate for diversity, sustainability, and other issues important to interior designers.
6. Coordinate with the Consortium for Interior Design – New York, which includes ASID New York chapters, International Interior Design Association (IIDA) NY, plus the National Consortium for Interior Design comprised of ASID National, Council for Interior Design Qualification (CIDQ), and IIDA HQ, to advance shared efforts to modernize legislation in New York that:
   1. Aligns the state’s interior design education requirements with those of CIDQ;
   2. Outlines the practice of interior design, granting stamp and seal privileges to certified interior designers.
7. Further, to advocate separately for legislation in New York that:
   1. Defines certified interior designers as “design professionals”, permitting them to own a majority of a design professional service corporation;
   2. Reduces the state’s interior design application and renewal fees to be closer in line with the national average; and
   3. Eliminates and/or clarifies the interior decorating and design services sales tax.