In September 2013, the Director of the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, William A. Mundell, announced significant changes to the agency’s complaint process. One such change was that the ROC, rather than the complainants, would decide whether citations would issue. In other words, the ROC now decides whether the evidence provided by complainants and gathered by investigators warrants a citation, instead of simply allowing complainants to request one.
According to Mundell, this change was necessary because citations were issued in response to 36% of the complaints filed in Arizona in the 10 years before the change. By contrast, contractor licensing agencies in other states issue citations in response to only about 5% of complaints.
Although this change has only been in effect for a few months, the ROC is already reporting that it has been successful. Citations are now being issued in response to 13% of complaints in Arizona. While this is still nearly three times the rate of other states, it is a substantial decrease from 36% in a short amount of time. In sum, it appears that having the ROC decide whether to issue citations was a good change that is reducing the number of meritless citations.