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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR

King

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/2/07

3/2/07

HB

651/aHFL

SHORT TITLE

Interior Design Licensure and Board

SB

ANALYST

C.Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB 535

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HFl Amendment

The House Floor amendment adds that all board members shall be residents of New Mexico and

no more than two members shall be appointed from the same congressional district.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 651 proposes to amend the current governing Interior Designers Act, Chapter 61;

Article 24C NMSA 1978. This legislation proposes three main changes to the Interior Designers

Act. The first change is to amend the board composition from three public members and two

professional members to two public members and three professional members. Second, is to

eliminate the current license renewal date of December 1 and add replacement language that

requires annual renewal. Third, to avoid First Amendment challenges to the Act. Accordingly, it

is necessary to add the word “licensed" in front of the designation interior designer, to redefine

this term.

House Bill 651/aHFL – Page

2

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Interior Design board is a self-funded board which is financed through license fees. There is

no fiscal impact attached to these proposed changes.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Constitutional Challenge

: This bill was promulgated primarily as the result of an agreement

with a group who challenged the current Interior Design Act on First Amendment grounds. To

avoid litigation on the constitutionality of the Interior Design Act, the term Interior Designer

needs to be defined as a “licensed interior designer."

Board Members:

The board advocates that membership of the board should include a majority

of licensed designers rather than public members. This would ensure a greater understanding

and representation of the profession as it relates to national standards and licensee

responsibilities.

License renewal date

: The removal of “succeeding December 31" will allow the board the

flexibility to change the renewal date through regulations rather than by statute.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

SB 535

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

The Interior Design Act is open for constitutional challenge and could ultimately be determined

unconstitutional and therefore invalid.

The Interior Design board will maintain current license renewal date in statute, and the board

membership would remain with three public members and two professional interior designer

members.

CS/nt