Topeka ? A bill for cracking down on unscrupulous telemarketers cleared a Senate committee Monday after its sponsor and the attorney general’s office worked out a compromise to sidestep free speech issues.

The bill from Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt deals with professional fundraisers who solicit donations for charities over the phone. Schmidt wants to make sure that while potential donors are still on the phone, they learn how much of their money actually would go to the charities.

But Attorney General Steve Six’s office said last month that some language Schmidt had proposed could violate solicitors’ free speech rights. Negotiations followed between the Democratic attorney general’s staff and Schmidt, an Independence Republican.

The Judiciary Committee endorsed the compromise on a voice vote, forwarding the bill to the Senate. Schmidt, who sets the Senate’s calendar, said its debate could occur this week.

“It looks like a good compromise,” Schmidt said after the committee’s meeting. “I think it accomplishes what we set out to accomplish.”

State law already requires many charities raising money in Kansas to register annually with the secretary of state’s office. Professional fundraising firms also are required to register each year.

The charities must file annual reports or tax returns, disclosing how much they spend on administrative costs and their fundraising efforts.

In soliciting contributions, the charities are supposed to provide a registration number to consumers. And if a professional fundraiser is doing the calling, it must provide its registration number as well.

The bill says callers must say up front that they’re working for professional fundraiser, before they ask for money. Then, if the donor asks, they must disclose what percentage of each contribution goes to the charity.

“It’s a two-step process,” Schmidt said. “Hopefully, the first step will get people to ask the question.”

Schmidt had wanted to require the solicitors to disclose the information even if they weren’t asked for it. His measure had the backing of AARP.

But Six’s office said Schmidt’s original proposal went too far in directing what solicitors could say. It said a similar North Carolina law was struck down on such free speech grounds by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988.