AxD - Federal Policy

As one of the guardians of public health, safety, and welfare in the built environment, interior designers are a vital component of federal design and construction teams. From federal court houses to embassies and all federal buildings in between, qualified interior designers should be able to independently sign and seal interior design construction plans on federal projects and should be able to work within the full modern scope of interior design practice.

Resources

ASID Statement on Practice Rights
ASID Statement on the Importance of Interior Design
ASID Statement on the Importance of Stamp & Seal

Natural and manmade hazards pose a threat to the safety of the public. Seventy percent of fatalities during Hurricanes Katrina and Maria were residents with access and functional needs impacted by the design and construction of their community, particularly their interior environments. Contemporary planning, building materials, and design, construction, and operational techniques can make our communities more resilient to all sorts of threats. Interior designers use their human-centric design knowledge to positively impact pre-disaster mitigation.

Resources

Industry Statement on Resilience

Joint Comments on FEMA's Proposed BRIC Policy (May 2020)

A Letter to Congressional Leaders re: COVID-19 Aid for Interior Designers (March 2020)

The interior design industry is an economic force within the United States and globally. The industry has demonstrated strong, continuous growth in economic contribution, the number of jobs, and the number of firms since 2012. The industry reported a 9.87 billion dollar value of sales in 2015. The U.S. Census reported 66,500 interior design jobs in 2016 (13 percent increase since 2014) and the existence 13,176 firms nationwide. Total 2016 revenue for the interior design sector was estimated to be $49 billion. The interior design industry is an important part of the engine that keeps the American and global economy moving.

ASID supports trade, business, and economic policies that benefit the interior design profession and industry. Similarly, ASID opposes economic, business, and trade policies that would harm the profession and industry.

Resources

Letter - Chinese Tariffs 1
Letter - Chinese Tariffs 2
ASID Policy Statement on Tariffs

At the Federal level, interior designers are significantly disadvantaged and frequently not allowed to bid on government funded projects. Learn more about the solution and how it will positively affect your future in the interior profession.
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Existing copyright law does not provide enough legal protection for the work done by interior designers. Learn more about the solution and how it will positively affect your right to practice interior design everyday.
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Like many other professions, an individual pursuing a degree in interior design can assume costly student loans. CIDQ-certified interior designers must complete formal post-secondary education to learn how to properly protect the health, safety, and welfare of building occupants. From learning about building codes to mastering project management, this education is a necessary step to becoming a designer. The debts accumulated to obtain this education can be a burden to the profession and a potential barrier to entry. ASID supports policies that mitigate interior design student debt by forgiving or mitigating the debt of interior designers who do pro-bono or government service design work.
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It is imperative that the design industry continually develop its workforce, as well as future generations of interior designers. Moreover, the interior design profession must support allied professionals including building code officials and skilled trades workers to make sure that all facets of the construction industry are properly staffed.

Resources

ASID is a proud supporter of the International Code Council’s (ICC) High School Technical Training Program (HSTTP)

ASID supports policies that mitigate climate change and reasonably protect the environment as related to design and construction. Specifically, buildings can contain many different chemicals of concern. Building materials can impact our health as much as the food we eat, the water we drink, or the air we breathe. Asthmagens, carcinogens, and other hazardous substances can be easily found in building materials and have proven to be exceptionally detrimental to the health of building occupants. ASID believes that only substances and methodologies proven to be benign to construction professionals, manufacturing workers, designers, and occupants should be used in design and construction.

Resources

Asbestos SNUR Comment Letter

Letter - Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

Letter - Green Public Housing

Interior designers have a major role to play in solving the affordable housing crisis. ASID designers look at alternative solutions to create safe, healthy, and sustainable spaces for all those in need of government assisted living space. Designers utilize sustainable practices and innovative technologies that can reduce construction, décor, and maintenance costs while providing a space in which inhabitants feel safe and dignified.

Interior designers have taken up this challenge and have come up with some unprecedented moves to offer innovation within government budgets.

ASID takes seriously its role in ending the affordable housing crisis. ASID supports policies and proposals that contribute to the creation of safe housing solutions for all those in need in the United States and around the globe.

Resources

Joint Comments Responding to Code Criticism in HUD's Affordable Housing RFI