Speak Out

Fingerprinting home contractors would provide protection to California consumers

With more than six million homeowners in California, at some point, just about everyone in California will deal with--or know someone who deals with--a contractor for home improvement or repair.

More than 90 percent of the 25,000 complaints the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) receives each year concern home repair and improvement.

Although a good portion of these complaints concern poor workmanship, many involve fraud. Unscrupulous contractors take the money and run. When we investigate these contractors, we often find that they have undisclosed criminal convictions. Why don't we know about this?

Under today's law, the CSLB must rely solely on the applicant's veracity regarding past criminal history. Unfortunately, criminals tend to lie. Only when CSLB undertakes a criminal investigation against a licensee are such lies disclosed.

A recent CSLB case involved a contractor who failed to disclose numerous recent criminal convictions, including fraud and grand theft. The contractor's lies were uncovered during a subsequent criminal investigation. The investigation also discovered that the contractor was in prison during the time he claimed to be gathering work experience required to qualify for licensing.

Assemblyman Honda's AB 2370 can help us ferret out non-truths and shady contractors operating in the home improvement arena by fingerprinting all applicants for home improvement certification.

The bill requires contractors who work primarily in home improvement to submit their fingerprints to the Department of Justice "Livescan," a new system which provides accurate, electronic information about an applicant's criminal history.

California has nearly 270,000 licensed contractors, and the vast majority of contractors are responsible and honest. Some, however, make their living taking advantage of seniors, or ripping off other unsuspecting homeowners.

We need to stop them before they have a chance. Fingerprinting will help the CSLB to appropriately deny home improvement certifications to contractors whose criminal history should keep them from having access to the homes and pocketbooks of California homeowners.

Please call or email your State Senator and ask for support of this bill.

If you would like more information, please call 800-321-CSLB or email publicaffairs@cslb.ca.gov.

Dr. C. Lance Barnett, Registrar
California Contractors State License Board

Around the Glen

Never take Father's Day, or any day, for granted

Sports Briefs

College baseball and softball

Summer sports camps