Advocacy Update
The 2026 legislative season has been highly active for professional licensing and regulation. This year alone, 17 states have considered legislation related to the licensing or registration of interior design practitioners—an unprecedented volume in the last five years. Unfortunately, this surge includes both efforts to create or expand reasonable regulation and a parallel rise in deregulatory proposals. Key themes emerging this year include the creation or modernization of regulatory frameworks, shifts in state regulatory administration, and renewed attempts to deregulate interior design and other licensed professions.
Progress on New Licenses and Registration
Several states are making meaningful progress toward establishing new pathways for NCIDQ Certificate Holders. Washington and Idaho have both held hearings on legislation that would create or expand regulatory recognition. In Idaho, new legislation that creates a protected title for NCIDQ Certificate Holders within the exemptions of the architecture statute, following a recommendation from the state’s sunrise review committee, advanced through both legislative chambers and was signed by the Governor, making Idaho the 30th state to regulate the interior design profession. In Alaska, a bill creating a new registration for interior designers is tied to the essential extension of the state’s multidisciplinary design board. Additional proposals in Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and South Carolina would also create new regulatory frameworks designed to recognize NCIDQ Certified practitioners.
Exciting progress has also been made on legislation in California, the only state that does not utilize the NCIDQ Exam to license or register interior designers. Advocates in California have worked with legislators to introduce legislation that would create a new commercial title with practice rights that requires passage of a national certification exam. This proposed framework is consistent with the regulatory frameworks for all other design professions in the state, as opposed to the current framework administered by a nonprofit organization created by state statute, which is only employed for the regulation of three professions in the state. It’s promising to see new proposals and stronger legislative engagement around reasonable regulation. However, architecture communities in many states—Massachusetts being the exception—remain hesitant to support recognition and regulation of the interior design profession.
Modernization of Existing Statutes
Several states are also advancing bills to update and modernize interior design regulations. In Utah, legislation removing occupancy-based scope limitations for Registered Interior Designers has passed both chambers and awaits the Governor’s signature. In Missouri, lawmakers are considering a bill that would transfer oversight from the Interior Design Council to a multidisciplinary design board while also granting independent practice rights to licensed interior designers. Those bills have been heard in committee in both the House and Senate. In New York, new legislation aims to streamline the path for NCIDQ Certified practitioners seeking state registration as Certified Interior Designers. In Wisconsin, advocates are seeking the ability to supervise construction, which is meant to address the unintentional constrictions around a Wisconsin Registered Interior Designer’s ability to practice imposed through limitations in the state’s architecture statute. Although these modernization efforts show strong momentum, they run alongside active attempts to roll back regulations in several states.
Persistent Deregulatory Efforts
Deregulation remains a significant trend in 2026. In Florida, legislators again considered a proposal to eliminate all regulatory boards and continuing education requirements for licensed professions; however, a lack of support in the Senate has halted its progress for the year. Legislatures in Tennessee and Utah also saw proposals to deregulate the interior design profession and eliminate voluntary registrations for NCIDQ
Certificate Holders. As of this writing, none have successfully advanced. Despite these outcomes, additional deregulatory efforts may re-emerge, particularly in the post-election environment.
Staying Informed and Engaged
Overall, we continue to see promising progress in educating stakeholders and advocating for reasonable regulation, but the work is far from complete. We encourage all NCIDQ Certificate Holders to keep apprised of legislative updates provided by CIDQ on our CIDQ Advocacy Bulletin and advocacy updates provided by the Consortium for Interior Design on our Consortium Advocacy Action Center. The uncertainty of the current political environment requires all the supporters of reasonable regulation to remain vigilant and engaged, and as an organization, CIDQ hopes that all our certificate holders will take an active role in supporting and defending the regulation and recognition of the interior design profession.