Kansans sign up for no-call list

Kansans are racing to their telephones to hang up on telemarketers.

Nearly 60,000 Kansans registered to join a no-call list during the first full day of registration, officials said Tuesday.

“This is tremendous, but nothing less than we expected,” said Mary Tritsch, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Attorney General’s Office. “We knew that Kansans wanted this no-call list, and they are showing us in huge numbers.”

Monday, Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall announced she had reached agreement with a company to maintain the no-call list and that registration had started to get on the first list that telemarketers will have to buy to do business in Kansas.

Enforcement of the law starts Nov. 1. Any telephone solicitor who calls a telephone number on the list is subject to civil penalties of as much as $10,000.

Kansans can register to be on the no-call list by calling toll-free 1 (866) 362-4160, or by going online at www.ink.org/public/ksag.

By the end of Tuesday, 38,458 people had registered on the Web site, while 20,892 registered by phone.

Tritsch said phone lines were so busy that many people could not get through.

“We’re asking people to try later,” she said. “There’s no hurry.” To get on the first no-call list, people need to register by Sept. 23, she said.

he Attorney General’s Office hired two more people to enforce the law. “We’ll look to see if we need additional staff down the road,” Tritsch said.

Staff dedicated to enforcing the law would probably be funded through fines assessed violators. “We don’t anticipate any use of taxpayers’ money,” she said.