Interior designers rally for rights

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Call it a good old fashioned throw pillow fight. Or, as Joel Mozersky called it: David versus Goliath.

"The [ American Society of Interior Designers] has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying efforts just to reduce their competition," said Joel Mozersky, an unlicensed interior designer in Austin who has done work for numerous restaurants and stores in the area.

Mozersky is joining thousands of other designers in rallying against possible legislation that would prohibit unlicensed designers from doing commercial projects.

"The Texas Association for Interior Design and [ASID] are trying to put us out of business," he said.

The TAID and ASID are groups that represent licensed interior designers. In 1991, they successfully got a bill passed referred to as the "Title Act." It prohibits unlicensed designers from calling themselves "interior designers."

This session, they are lobbying to pass a bill that would only allow licensed interior designers to do the designs for commercial real estate.

"It's a matter of safety," said Marilyn Roberts with TAID. "You need to have a licensed architect, a licensed plumber, a licensed electrician working on those buildings. You should need a licensed interior designer."

Roberts said the bill they are drafting includes a grandfather clause that would allow designers without a degree but with adequate work experience to take a test to qualify for a license.

"We are not trying to put anybody out of business," she said.

Roberts said the bill's motivation is to promote safety.

"A licensed interior designer must know the various code restrictions," she said.

However, Roberts admitted there is no documented case she knows of in Texas where an unlicensed interior designer created a safety hazard.

The Institute for Justice has taken on the case for the unlicensed designers. They said the legislation will do nothing to protect the people of Texas, but will simply reduce competition in the interior design field.

"Out of the 10,000 interior designers in Texas, half of them are unlicensed," said Clark Neily with Institute for Justice. "That means 5,000 designers will be out of work and all of the furniture companies they work with will lose half their business."

 

 

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