Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall is expected to decide by month’s end whether the Direct Marketing Association or someone else should operate the state’s new telemarketing do-not-call list.
Stovall “is weighing her options,” according to spokesman Mark Ohlemeier. He was unable to say just when the attorney general would announce her decision.
If she decides to find someone new to operate the list those the more than 45,000 Kansans already on the list will have to sign up again with the new operator.
The list program, authorized by state lawmakers and signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Graves in May, was to have gone into effect on July 1.
So far Kansas is the only state in the nation to seek a private operator for its telemarketing do-not-call list instead of a state agency. Other states have either assigned that job to the attorney generals office, the secretary of state or consumer protection agency.
The program’s start was delayed because of negotiations with the DMA over operation and maintenance of the list broke down in late June, according to Deputy Attorney General Steve Rarrick.
He explained that the DMA wanted to give Kansans 60 days to place their names on the list instead of the 30 days required by law.
That time lag would have kept the program from going into effect until sometime in late October or early November, according to Rarrick.
Meantime, the DMA, which wanted to operate the do-not-call list for Kansas “is waiting” to hear from Stovall, spokesman Louis Mastria told DIRECT Newsline. “Unless the attorney general’s office asks us to come back, I think we’re kind of apart,” he added.
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