Legislative News
Florida
What is the current interior design law?
Since 1994 Florida has had an interior design practice act. Florida has fought continuously to keep these professional regulations. On February 4, 2010 in the Locke v. Shore court case, the US District Court for the
Northern District of Florida ruled to maintain the Florida law requiring licensure of the practice of non-residential interior design.
Additionally, the court found the restriction on the use of the title “interior designer” unconstitutional. Without the restrictions on the title “interior designer,” the interior design law does not take anything away from nonlicensees in terms of how they can identify themselves and their work. The 1994 legislation opened up practice that had previously been reserved for the practice of architecture only.
What does this mean for registered interior designers?
This recent court decision means that anyone in Florida may use the terms “interior design” and/or “interior designer” to describe themselves and their work. Florida laws continue to permit Registered Interior Designers
to prepare documents for all project use types within the scope of the practice of interior design defined by the Florida statutes, and to submit signed and sealed documents as needed for review by building officials for
permits.
Interior designers licensed by the State of Florida should utilize for all correspondence, websites, advertising, and all other applications where your licensee’s name appears, the designation “Florida Registered Interior Designer” followed by the license number. As an example, registered interior designers should use Florida (or FL) Registered Interior Designer #0000000. This designation can only be used by persons currently
licensed by the state for the practice of interior design, as defined by the Florida Statutes.
