What's New at the ROC

By Jessica A. Jackson

I recently attended a seminar highlighting what we can expect to see changing at the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (“ROC”) in the near future. The Chief of the ROC’s Legal Department, Jessica Fotinos, spoke about some changes within the agency that is likely going to have an impact on contractors and those in the construction industry.

Because the ROC is a state agency, budget issues are a big motivator behind some of the changes that we may see at the ROC. For example, the ROC’s recovery fund is severely depleted due to reduced funding by the state, and one of the legislative changes would give the Director of the ROC the authority to order an assessment against each licensed contractor to keep the recovery fund intact. This would mean even more fees for Arizona contractors in tough economic times.

Not all of the proposals regarding budget issues are reactive, however. The ROC has examined several areas within the agency that seem to be running inefficiently, and has come up with a few changes that will hopefully result in some cost-savings to the agency in the long run. Aside from cutting back on mailing everything via certified mail to save costs, a mediation and/or arbitration option is being explored at the recovery fund stage. Ms. Fotinos explained that approximately 20% of all claims paid out of the recovery fund are less than $2,000 per claim. To speed up the recovery fund review process, a mediation and/or arbitration program is being explored for claims under a certain dollar amount so that the agency becomes more efficient at processing these claims.

The ROC is also evaluating the types and scope of existing license classifications. Apparently the ROC spends a lot of time reviewing what the appropriate license classification should be on a project-by-project basis. To eliminate these inefficiencies, we can expect to see more policy statements issued by the ROC explaining how to select the appropriate classifications. We may even see amendments to the classifications themselves.

Lastly, Ms. Fotinos mentioned that a big concern at the ROC is the number of complaints they receive from contractors regarding how the agency reports complaints filed against a contractor on the website. The ROC said that they are currently examining a more accurate way of reporting complaints on the website so that they can be as clear as possible in conveying to the public the status and resolution of the complaint.

Please contact Jessica Jackson at jjackson@holmwright.com or (480) 477-8593 for additional information.