Many, many Kansans surely are applauding Attorney General Steve Six’s plan to pursue legislation he believes will drastically curtail “robo-calls.”

The annoying automatic calls were especially prevalent during the last election cycle. People who are at home during the day reported a high number of such calls. For people who work during the day, the calls interrupted their evening and seemed particularly timed to arrive around the dinner hour.

As part of his legislative agenda announced last week, Six said he would pursue a bill that would significantly restrict robo-calls of all types, both commercial and political. Kansans who have registered on the state no-call list already are protected from unsolicited commercial calls unless they have an existing relationship with a business.

For those not on the no-call list or for political or charitable calls not covered by that list, Six’s proposal would require a live operator to get verbal permission for an automated message to continue.

According to a representative of Six’s office, most companies, candidates and charities that use robo-calls make that choice because the calls are easy and inexpensive. Six’s hope is that the need to have a live operator get verbal permission to deliver an automated message, will eliminate some of that convenience and discourage robo-call use.

The bill is modeled after a Minnesota law that has been upheld as constitutional, but continues to be challenged in court, mostly by political entities. It’s easy to understand why this is such a popular communications tool for political campaigns. The calls are a perfect opportunity to make dramatic charges against opposing candidates with little or no substantiation. Although Kansas law now requires automated calls to include who is paying for the message, the names of those groups often don’t offer a clear picture of where the money is coming from.

Whether politicians and other marketing entities have figured it out or not, most consumers find automated phone calls annoying. In many cases they may even make someone less likely to support a candidate or contribute to a charity than they would have been before the call was made.

Making robo-calls less convenient and more expensive is a reasonable way to attack the problem. If it results in a significant reduction in such annoying calls, Kansans will be grateful.