Topeka ? Legislators are ready to provide relief to consumers who are annoyed by telemarketing calls. The question is whether the relief will come from the industry or the Attorney General’s Office.

Lobbyists for telecommunications and telemarketing companies are promoting a bill that would let consumers add their names to a no-call list kept by an industry group and voluntarily observed by its members.

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Competing for legislators’ votes is a bill that would create a mandatory no-call list maintained and enforced by the state attorney general.

Senate debate on that bill is set for Tuesday. Its main sponsor, Sen. David Adkins, said Kansans are fed up with telemarketing calls and should be offered relief.

“I think the Attorney General’s Office is already charged with protecting consumers,” said Adkins, R-Leawood. “This would give them another tool.”

Modeled on a no-call law in Missouri, the Senate measure would allow people to sign up for a no-call list by mail, Internet or telephone free of charge. The list would be sold to telemarketers quarterly, and violators would be fined $10,000 per infraction.

Opponents say the state would spend millions of dollars it doesn’t have to build and maintain the database and enforce the law.

Rep. Tricia Lightner, R-Overland Park, is worried about the cost.

She supports a bill before the House Utilities Committee that would use an existing list maintained by the Direct Marketing Assn., a private group that claims nearly 4,700 member companies. Lightner says using that list would save the state the costs of building and maintaining a database.

Consumers could join the list for free by mail or for $5 on the Internet. The House Committee added an amendment requiring the Attorney General’s Office to collect consumers’ numbers and forward them to Direct Marketing Assn.

“Why should the state take on the expense of making a brand new list? From the industry perspective, DMA already has the list,” said Steve Montgomery, a lobbyist for MCI/Worldcom.

Of the approximately 150,000 telemarketing companies in business nationwide, about 1,300 subscribe to the association’s voluntary list.

No-call bills are SB 296 and 538; HB 2100, 2767, 2903.