Topeka ? Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline said Friday the state’s no-call law remained in effect despite a federal court ruling in Colorado that declared the national no-call registry unconstitutional.

The attorney general said he would continue to “vigorously” enforce the state no-call law, which prohibits most telemarketers from calling people who have placed their names on a no-call list.

And to head off possible impact on Kansas, Kline said he would help Colorado Atty. Gen. Ken Salazar try to overturn the federal court decision.

“I believe it’s a flawed decision,” Kline said. “You don’t have the right to walk up to my house, throw open the window and yell inside.”

Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham ruled the federal no-call law, which is set to go into effect Oct. 1, is unconstitutional because it violates free-speech.

Nottingham said the federal law limited free speech by exempting certain telemarketers, including those that represented charities and political organizations.

“The do-not-call registry is a significant enough governmental intrusion and burden on commercial speech to amount to a government restriction implicating the First Amendment,” Nottingham wrote.

Salazar will appeal the decision to the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also is the federal appellate court for Kansas.

Kline said he offered to help Salazar in any way on the appeal, and that the state of Kansas would file a legal brief supporting the no-call law.

¢ Congress approves ‘do-not-call’ list (9-26-03)¢ FTC chairman calls ruling against no-call registry ‘incorrect’ (9-25-03)¢ 6News video: No-call registry doesn’t stop all calls (8-7-03)

“We believe clearly that the Legislature has the right to protect Kansans in the privacy of their homes, and we intend to defend the no-call list vigorously,” Kline said.

The court decision will have no immediate affect on Kansas’ own no-call law, which remains in effect.

But, Kline added, if the case is upheld in higher courts, “it could have an impact on us in the future.”

He said, however, that even if telemarketers continued to win in court, the Legislature or Congress might be able to craft a bill to limit calls while taking into account the court’s free-speech concerns.

“We are talking about phone lines; it’s not a public right of access. We limit speech on airwaves,” Kline said.

Kansas’ no-call law has been in effect since November 2002. Nearly 504,000 Kansans have placed their names on the no-call registry, and the state has collected nearly $225,000 in fines from telemarketing companies that have violated the law.

The federal law was to take over for the laws in dozens of states.