A Call for Professional Licensure in California

1. Protection of the public’s health, safety, and welfare is paramount. 
California relies on commercial interior designers to create code-compliant environments in hospitals, airports, community centers, schools, and other critical public spaces. The precedent set in California is that professional practice which affects the public’s health, safety, and welfare shall have such practice be regulated by the state. Certification does not, as a statutory framework, confer legal authority to practice or take legal responsibility for a practitioner’s work. Without licensure, there is no regulatory safeguard to ensure these professionals meet enforceable standards or to protect the public. Therefore, a state-issued license is the only mechanism that fits commercial interior design practitioners, as it holds practitioners accountable under California law.

2. Commercial interior design practitioners meet the state’s threshold for legal responsibility. 
The state licenses practices and practitioners whose education, examination, and experience prepare them to take legal responsibility for their work. Commercial interior designers are the subject matter experts on the work they do, which demands that they are also legally accountable for that work. 

3. Commercial interior design is a distinct practice from residential interior design. 
The scale of projects and risk to the public makes commercial interior design practice fundamentally distinct from residential interior design. Residential interior designers can fully participate in their industry without a license; many commercial construction and design projects require a license to bid on, submit plans for, or otherwise meaningfully engage with. A statutory distinction ensures commercial interior designers can fully participate in their work and that regulation is proportionally aligned with risk, accountability, and public trust, while not impeding adjacent professions that function adequately without a license.

4. Overlapping scope is a safety feature, not a flaw.
Overlap in professional scope is a built-in feature of California’s licensing structure. Design and construction professionals operate in shared domains intentionally, using complementary expertise to improve safety and quality. Professional regulation is founded on competency, not exclusivity. Adding commercial interior designers to this system strengthens this collaborative model by introducing another layer of qualified review and legal accountability. Modern design and construction work doesn’t need less overlap, it needs more.

5. Commercial interior design needs statutory definition, set by the experts who practice it.
To ensure public trust, commercial interior design must follow the standard of all licensed professions and define its own scope, qualifications, and standards with the oversight of subject matter experts. While collaboration with peer professions is essential, it’s not the role of adjacent professions to define another’s legitimacy or scope. True professional respect demands regulatory self-determination.

6. Legislation establishes authority and state boards clarify the details. 
A licensing statute must reflect the core practice of commercial interior design and grant the authority to govern the profession through a state board. That board, composed in-part of licensed commercial interior designers, is responsible for guidance on questions surrounding scope, continuously evaluating qualifications, overseeing enforcement, and addressing contemporary issues. This is the standard model used by other regulated professions in California.