skip navigation
AZ.gov Arizona's Official Website Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings
Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings AZ.gov Arizona's Official Web Site
Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings


Videoconferencing in Registrar of Contractors Hearings

By Cliff J. Vanell, Director
Vol. 36 August 2005

The mission of the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is to provide full, fair, impartial, independent and prompt hearings to parties appearing before us. Government is a scarce resource and must be managed to find efficiencies so that more people can be served in a timely way. With the increased level of home construction, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of complaints filed with the Registrar of Contractors (ROC) and, therefore, an increase in hearings referred to the OAH. In FY 2003 (July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2003), the number of ROC cases set for hearing was 1648. By FY 2005 (July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005), the number had risen to 2065, representing a 25% increase.

The Need to Increase the Frequency of Hearings Convened Outside of the Phoenix and Tucson Metropolitan Areas

The OAH convenes hearings in seven areas outside of the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson: Flagstaff, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Prescott, Show Low, Sierra Vista, and Yuma. From January 1996 through July 2005, hearings were conducted by 8 Administrative Law Judges traveling for week-long dockets in these outlying areas. From FY 2003 to FY 2005, the number of requests for hearing rose from 356 to 535, representing a 50% increase. The number of travel weeks increased from 57 to 79.
In FY 2004, the hearing date for the average ROC case in the metropolitan areas was set 68 days after receipt of a request for hearing. Because of the logistics of travel, the hearing date for the average case in the outlying areas was set 108 days from the request for hearing. By FY 2005, the hearing date setting had remained 68 days for the average case in the metropolitan areas, but had risen to 111 days in the outlying areas.
In FY 2004, when an ROC case was continued, it could be restored to the calendar in an average of 48 days in the metropolitan areas, but required 70 days for the outlying areas. By FY 2005, 104 days were required to reset a case in the outlying areas, versus 54 days in the metropolitan areas.


More Travel Not a Solution

Aside from the tremendous personal burden on the 8 Administrative Law Judges assigned to preside over all ROC cases, the amount of time lost in transit and the increasing amount of delay in scheduling and hearing cases in the outlying areas made increasing the number of travel weeks an untenable solution.

In FY 2003, 733 hours were spent in travel preparation, transit time to the various sites, and down time due to settled cases. In FY 2004, the total climbed to 777.8 hours and in FY 2005, that number continued to increase to 881.7 hours. Those hours equate to 18.3 weeks in FY 2003, 19.5 weeks in FY 2004 and 22 weeks in FY 2005. That time could have been used in productive hearing and writing time. Such hidden costs of travel illustrate that increasing the number of travel weeks would not be efficient.

The Videoconferencing Solution

The explosion in ROC cases in the outlying areas and the delay and inefficiencies occasioned by travel dockets required a rethinking of how services could be better supplied to the outlying areas.

In June 2005, the OAH began implementing ROC hearings by videoconference in the following order: Kingman, Show Low, Prescott, Lake Havasu City, Flagstaff, Sierra Vista, and Yuma. As a result, the 79 travel weeks of FY 2005 will be replaced in FY 2006 with 104 week-long videoconference dockets devoted to those outlying areas. Settings and continued settings for the outlying areas are now comparable to the metropolitan areas. The time normally lost to travel and vacated hearings in a travel situation has been reallocated to the setting of an estimated 110 additional hearings in FY 2006.

Videoconference technology has allowed the OAH to level the field in providing efficient services to both the metropolitan and outlying areas. The OAH will continue to look for ways to further refine its processes to better contribute to the quality of life in Arizona.

The Nuts and Bolts of Videoconferencing

Hearings continue to be held in the outlying areas, and all parties, witnesses and counsel must appear at those ROC offices. The ALJ appears at those locations via videoconference from either Phoenix or Tucson. The ALJ views the parties, witnesses and counsel on a 32” monitor set up in the ALJ’s chambers. A camera and monitor is also located at the various ROC offices permitting the parties to see the ALJ. Although the parties’ view of the ALJ remains static, the ALJ has the ability to move the camera to permit closer observation of parties, witnesses and exhibits. A document camera is also set up in the hearing rooms to allow closer inspection of physical evidence.

Because the ALJ is not physically present, parties are informed by Minute Entry prior to the hearing that they must presubmit documents to the ALJ. Parties are also informed that they must have copies available for all other parties at the time of the hearing. Although documents are presubmitted, opposing parties may still make objections to their admission.

A digital recorder preserves the audio record. The video portion is not recorded or preserved.

To view a streaming video demonstrating videoconferencing,visit our website.