On May 10, 2021, Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a new version of the Oklahoma State Architectural and Registered Commercial Interior Designers Act, which went into effect on July 1, 2021.
Highlights of the changes to the law include:
- The title "Registered Interior Designer" changed to "Registered Commercial Interior Designer."
- The Board is now comprised of six Architects, two Landscape Architects, two Registered Commercial Interior Designers, and one public member.
- Registered Commercial Interior Designers now have a seal that they may use to seal technical submissions, excluding fire and life safety systems, for nonstructural interior construction for the Code Use Groups listed and defined in 59 OS, section 46.21b, unless prepared under the responsible control of an Oklahoma-licensed Architect, and signed and sealed by that Architect.
Important new definitions:
- "Commercial Interior Design" means the rendering of or the offering to render designs, consultations, studies, planning, drawings, specifications, contract documents or other technical submissions and the administration of interior construction and contracts relating to nonstructural interior construction by a registered commercial interior designer in a new constructed or existing building when the core and shell elements are not going to be changed; OS 59, 46.3 (17)
- "Nonstructural Commercial Interior Construction" means the construction of elements which do not include exterior components of a building such as exterior walls, any load-bearing wall, any load-bearing column or any other load-bearing elements of a building essential to the structural integrity of the building such as wind loads and seismic loads and to any element which must be designed for wind loads and seismic loads; and OS 59, 46.3 (18)
- "Fire and Life Safety Systems" means those systems and construction that pertain to fire and life safety protection, such as fire sprinklers, fire alarms, smoke evacuation systems, fire walls, fire barriers or smoke barriers as defined by the current International Building Code adopted by the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission. OS 59, 46.3 (19)
For a full version of the new law, please look at the Oklahoma State Architectural and Registered Commercial Interior Designers Act. Check out our FAQs page for answers to questions concerning the changes.
Can a Registered Commercial Interior Designers' seal be on non-structural, interior building plans, excluding fire and life safety systems?
For the following categories: A basement is not to be counted as a story for the purpose of counting stories of a building.
If you answer “yes” to any of the following criteria questions, then your building requires an RCID's seal. If you answered “No” to all of the criteria for your building’s Code Use Group, your building most likely won’t require an RCID. However, the local or state authorities having jurisdiction may require an RCID where the State Architectural and Registered Commercial Interior Designers Act does not.
| Code Use Group | Building Type | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| A-2 & A-3 | Assembly, food and drink consumption,worship, recreation, amusement | Is the code-defined building occupancy less than 50 AND is the building less than 2 stories in height? |
| E | Educational | |
| B | Business | Is the building less than 100,000 sq. ft. AND 2 stories or less in height? |
| M | Mercantile | Is the building less than 200,000 sq. ft. AND 2 stories or less in height? |
| R-1 | Residential, including hotels & motels | Is the building less than 64 units AND 2 stories or less in height? |
| R-2 | Residential, including apartments & dormitories | Is the building less than 32 dwelling/guest units AND 2 stories or less in height? |
| CHK | Federal, state, municipal, county, or public-trust or agency-owned building | Is the building cost less than $158,000? |
| U | Utility | Is the building 2 stories or less in height? |
| F | Factory & Industrial | |
| H | High Hazard | |
| S | Storage | |
| R-3 | Residential | |
| R-4 | Residential | |
| CHK | All uninhabitable, privately-owned agricultural buildings |
