LOUISIANA LEGISLATION
Louisiana Legislative Story: In the Making
1984 - Louisiana Interior Design Title Act was passed.
1999 - Louisiana Interior Design Practice Act was passed.
Louisiana's current Interior Design Statue.
1999 - LCID was formally established.
The Louisiana Coalition for Interior Designers was first proposed in 1986 by Joseph Daniel (Dan) Bouligny, Sr.
Dan was an industry leader in developing Louisiana state licensing for Interior Designers and Louisiana's first Interior Designer licensee. He was a Fellow of ASID and IIDA and Owner of Bouligny Interiors (1960-2012).
2024 Regular Legislative Session
Review of state licensing boards.
As of March 2024, Louisiana licensing boards were 'reviewed' by the Governor's office by the Louisiana House Commerce Committee Review of State Licensing Boards as a required from bills approved in prior legislative sessions. See Video of Committee Review of Licensing Boards.
- LSBID Board Review: See video beginning at 18:13, ending at 45:50.
- Architecture Licensing Board: Fast forward to 2:20:23.
HB 959 - Sunset of State Occupational Licenses.
The original bill would sunset (eliminate) all occupational licenses, which included Interior Design, from the state of Louisiana licensures except for those in the medical and legal fields. This bill was introduced to eliminate 'unreasonable regulation' or 'barriers to entry' to target licensing boards not found to impact health, safety, and well-being. After receiving letters from Interior Designers and supporters across Louisiana and visits to the state capitol, assurance was given that Interior Design was not an intended target for the bill. The bill has since been changed to HB 972 and the legislative threat eliminated.
SB 456 - Creates Board Review Commission.
Creates the Louisiana Regulatory and Advisory Board Review Commission. This commission would be created to conduct a sunset review of every state board and commission at least once every four (4) years and determine whether each state board and commission issuing a licensure fulfills a legitimate health, safety, welfare, or fiduciary objective.
HB 716 was passed - Architects vs. Civil Engineers.
As of March 2024, Architects introduced and presented a bill before the House Commerce Committee to eliminate the ability of civil engineers to submit to the State Fire Marshal (SFM) Office. The overlap of professional task force/study was briefly mentioned between architects/engineers/interior design.
Bill Introduction before the Louisiana Senate
Architecture Testimony before the LA House Commerce Committee
SB 396 was passed - Architects vs. Civil Engineers.
"As of July 2024, the Louisiana Senate Bill 396 was signed into law as Act 104 and will take effect July 1, 2025. Under this new law, civil engineers will be restricted from practicing architecture in certain occupancy classifications beyond what is permitted by R.S. 37:155 - Exemptions. Specifically, they will no longer be able to design buildings in the Mercantile, Residential, Educational, Institutional, Assembly, or Business Occupancy Classifications unless they are below the listed Gross Floor Area Square Footage. However, civil engineers will still be permitted to design structures such as water/sewer treatment plants, pump houses, and select metal storage buildings. They will also be permitted to design buildings below the listed occupancy loads in the High Hazard and Utility and Miscellaneous classifications." - Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners (LSBAE).
2024 Third Extraordinary Session
There were several bills introduced during Louisiana's 2024 Special Legislative Session that would have had a direct impact on the construction industry, including the Interior Design profession. Items related to construction have since been removed from these bills.
HB No. 9 - Includes Taxation of Design Services
HB No. 9 (Line 25) specified taxation of "Interior Decorating and Design Services". Professional Interior Design services should be exempt, and held to the same standard as other professional services, similar to Architects, Engineers, Attorneys, Doctors, CPA's, etc. HB No. 9 was amended and "Interior Decorating and Design Services" was removed from the bill.
HB 9 Text (Page 10, Line 25)
*This list is not yet a comprehensive list of legislative activity applicable to the Interior Design profession.
In partnership with the Louisiana State Board of Interior Designers (LSBID) and fellow Interior Design organizations, the LCID leadership team aspires to gather more information about Louisiana's Interior Design legislative history. If you or someone you know has any additional information, please e-mail our LCID leadership team at IDAdvocacyLA@gmail.com.
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