Since Seattle created its opt-out registry to halt delivery of unwanted Yellow Pages phone books, thousands of residents have signed up.

Now state Rep. Reuven Carlyle says he'll introduce a bill to expand the popular program statewide next year.

Carlyle, D-Seattle, said he'd considered Yellow Pages-legislation last year, pointing to a blog post he wrote in January 2010. But after talks with industry reps, Carlyle decided to wait to see if the business-directory publishers did a better job at promoting their own opt-out programs.

"In that year I haven't seen any substantive or appreciable improvement," Carlyle said in a phone interview Wednesday.

"The success in Seattle is an indication that the public wants this option," he said.

Carlyle said his 2012 legislation will try to make it easy for cities across the state to create and coordinate opt-out registries.

Advocates of the opt-out programs say they cut waste, since millions of the yellow-pages directories are dumped, frequently unused, into recycling bins.

But yellow-pages publishers have sued Seattle in federal court, arguing the city registry violates their free-speech rights and will harm them financially.

The publishers also argue such public registries are unnecessary since they have their own national opt-out service, at http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com.