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Read. Follow. Verify.Missouri House Bill 2353 integrates interior designers into the state licensing board for design professionals
Last action · April 1, 2026: HCS Reported Do Pass (H)Sponsor: Sherri Gallick
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What This Bill Would Do
This bill abolishes the Interior Design Council and transfers its regulatory authority to the Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, Professional Landscape Architects, and Licensed Interior Designers, expanding the board from 15 to 17 members. It establishes formal licensure requirements and a protected title for interior designers, updates corporate practice rules, and creates peer review immunity provisions for design professionals.
Interior designers in Missouri transition from council registration to formal board licensure, affecting their professional qualifications, corporate practice rules, and continuing education standards. The legislation impacts licensing applicants, currently registered interior designers, and firms providing architectural and design services by altering regulatory oversight and enforcement mechanisms.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Interior designers
Interior designers face changes to their licensing authority, board oversight, examination requirements, title protections, and continuing education rules.
Architects, professional engineers, professional land surveyors, and professional landscape architects
These existing board licensees share a newly expanded regulatory board with interior designers and are subject to updated statutory definitions regarding scope of practice and corporate certificates of authority.
Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, Professional Landscape Architects, and Licensed Interior Designers
The board gains two new interior design seats, absorbs the responsibilities of the former Interior Design Council, and assumes jurisdiction over interior designer disciplinary proceedings and fund accounting.
Key Facts
- Abolishes the Interior Design Council upon the appointment and confirmation of the initial two members of the licensed interior design division.
- Expands the Missouri Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, Professional Landscape Architects, and Licensed Interior Designers from 15 to 17 members.
- Requires applicants for a licensed interior designer credential to pass the Council for Interior Design Qualification examination or an approved equivalent and meet specified education and experience criteria.
- Prohibits any state, county, municipality, or political subdivision from requiring a licensed interior designer for residential buildings, remodeling, rehabilitation, or construction.
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- Creates peer review immunity provisions for design professionals acting in good faith without malice before substantial completion of a project.
- Transfers all moneys deposited in the interior designer council fund to the state board for architects, professional engineers, professional land surveyors, professional landscape architects, and licensed interior designers fund.
- Establishes that practicing interior design without a valid license or certificate of authority is a class A misdemeanor.
- Mandates that licensed interior designers must have a personal seal to affix to all final technical submissions.
- Exempts licensed interior designers 75 years of age or older from paying a license renewal fee.
- Permits the board to impose disciplinary actions, including probation, censure, suspension, or revocation, following felony convictions related to occupational duties.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to the existing Interior Design Council under this bill?
Does this bill require homeowners to use a licensed interior designer for residential work?
What qualifications are needed to become a licensed interior designer under the new provisions?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
8 actions- Apr 1, 2026HouseCommitteeHCS Reported Do Pass (H)
- Apr 1, 2026HouseCommitteeHCS Voted Do Pass (H)
- Apr 1, 2026HouseExecutive Session Completed (H)
- Feb 25, 2026HousePublic Hearing Completed (H)
- Feb 12, 2026HouseCommitteeReferred: Professional Registration and Licensing(H)
- Jan 8, 2026HouseFloorRead Second Time (H)
Show 2 earlier actions
- Jan 7, 2026HouseIntroducedRead First Time (H)
- Dec 10, 2025HouseIntroducedPrefiled (H)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Consolidation of Interior Design Regulation
The legislation shifts interior design oversight from a standalone council into a unified professional board alongside architects and engineers.
Connected Entities
Sources
house.mo.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz15Current news / social attention level
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