Iowa: New Bill Introduced

Interior Design Protection Council

HSB 203 Excludes Majority of Designers Will hurt your ability to compete -- ACTION NEEDED!

March 5, 2009

Dear Iowa design community, A bill has just been introduced in the Iowa House Committee on State Government for "A study bill for establishing alternative project delivery procedures for certain public projects undertaken by political subdivisions" Don't let the long description scare you! What this bill would do is exclude you from projects you are currently or could in the future work on. HSB 203 would limit state and local municipalities to hiring only "design professionals" to serve on a selection committee for construction management project delivery, design-build best value project delivery, and design-build qualifications-based project delivery. This decision should not be made in advance and should be left up to the discretion of the issuing authority to determine what expertise they need on a project, given the size, scope and nature of the work to be performed. A "qualified professional" is defined in the bill to include a licensed architect, licensed engineer, licensed landscape or registered interior designer. This means that you would be precluded from assisting in the selection of the construction manager or design-builder, which further means that it would be unlikely that you or your firm would be selected by the committee to bid on the project. While the requirement about a licensed engineer, architect or landscape architect might make sense depending on the scope of the governmental work, allowing only a "registered interior designer" does not satisfy that same test. As of August 8, 2008, there were a grand total of 39 registered interior designers in the State of Iowa. There may be even less today given the condition of the economy and the cost to register. By limiting the definition of "design professional" to registered interior designers to benefit only 39 in the entire state, the issuing authority would be denied the expertise of the majority of designers in Iowa, whose input might be valuable depending upon the project being considered. What you can do Please contact the committee and urge them to vote against this bill and grant your political subdivisions to right to determine the best experts for the job. Click here for Committee contact information. Suport our mission to protect the rights and livehoods of interior designers. Click here to join IDPC.

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