Missouri Senate rejects switching no-call list from AG to regulators

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Senators defeat an attempt to transfer the enforcement from Missouri's no-call list from the attorney general to state utility regulators.

Sen. Kevin Engler wanted to switch responsibility for the telemarketers' blacklist as part of an effort to expand the list from landline residential phones to also include cell phones, faxes and text messages.

But senators voted 21-8 to keep the list under the oversight of the attorney general.

Engler is a Republican from Farmington. He had hoped that switching the no-call list would help his bill pass the House, where it has died the past two years.

He says some Republican House members are opposed to expanding the list because it's run by Attorney General Jay Nixon, the Democratic candidate for governor.