State telemarketing laws: Florida, Oklahoma, Washington, Maryland, Texas

Washington, Maryland and Texas each have their own route to a private claim. This entry describes the main ones; it is not a fifty-state survey.

Why state laws matter

A state statute can reach conduct the federal statute does not, and a plaintiff can plead both for the same call. The three differences that matter most are a broader definition of automated equipment, so that a list-based dialer or texting platform is covered; narrower calling windows and frequency limits; and in some states a shorter limitations period or a notice requirement. A business calling into Florida, Oklahoma or Texas needs to meet the state rule as well as the federal one.

Florida: the Telephone Solicitation Act

Fla. Stat. § 501.059 was amended effective 1 July 2021 to add a private right of action and to prohibit telephonic sales calls, including texts, made using an automated system for the selection or dialing of numbers or the playing of a recorded message, without the called party's prior express written consent. Damages are $500 per violation, which a court may treble to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations, with injunctive relief available. The statute also limits sales calls to 8am to 8pm local time, caps them at three per 24 hours on the same subject, prohibits caller ID spoofing, and presumes that a call to a Florida area code is made to a Florida resident.

The 2023 amendment, effective 25 May 2023, narrowed the automated-system language to systems that both select and dial numbers, clarified that written consent can be given by checking a box or responding affirmatively to a text, and added a pre-suit requirement for text claims: the recipient must reply STOP and the sender has 15 days to comply before a text claim can be brought. Earlier texts in the thread are not actionable on their own.

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act of 2022, 15 O.S. § 775C.1 and following, took effect on 1 November 2022 and tracks the Florida model closely: written consent for automated sales calls and texts, 8am to 8pm, three calls per 24 hours on the same subject, caller ID requirements, a presumption that calls to Oklahoma area codes reach Oklahoma residents, and a private right of action for $500 per violation, trebled for willful or knowing violations. It has not been narrowed as Florida's was in 2023, so its automated-system language remains the broader 2021 Florida wording.

Washington

Washington regulates telephone solicitation at RCW 80.36.390, amended in 2022 to tighten the rules on solicitation hours, identification and do-not-call requests, and to make a violation an unfair practice under the state Consumer Protection Act, which carries its own private action, actual damages and treble damages up to a statutory cap. Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act, RCW 19.190, separately prohibits unsolicited commercial text messages to Washington numbers and provides a private action with statutory damages. Washington courts and the Ninth Circuit have applied these provisions to text campaigns alongside the TCPA.

Maryland

The Maryland Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Md. Code, Com. Law § 14-3201 and following, makes it a violation of state law to violate the federal TCPA or its regulations, and gives a private action for actual damages or $500 per violation, with attorney fees. Its practical effect is to add a fee-shifting state claim to every federal claim by a Maryland recipient. Maryland also enacted the Stop the Robocall Act in 2023, which added a state definition of automated dialing equipment broader than the post-Duguid federal one.

Texas

Texas has two relevant statutes. Business and Commerce Code Chapter 305 gives a person who receives a communication that violates 47 U.S.C. § 227 or its rules a state-law action for the greater of actual damages or $500 per violation, trebled if the violation was knowing or intentional. Chapter 302 requires telephone solicitors calling Texas residents to register with the Secretary of State and post security unless exempt; a 2025 amendment extended it to text messages. Failure to register is itself a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Texas also has state do-not-call provisions in Chapter 304 that incorporate the national registry.

Other states

Many states have telemarketing statutes with registration requirements, hours rules and do-not-call provisions, and several, including Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Mississippi and New Jersey, have added or expanded automated-call provisions since 2021. They differ in whether a private action exists, in damages, and in definitions. Because the federal rule on hours is 8am to 9pm and several states stop at 8pm, a national campaign set to the federal window is non-compliant in those states. A fifty-state survey is beyond this entry; the point is that state law is a separate check, not a footnote.

Compliance across states

The conservative position for a business calling nationally is to meet the strictest common denominator: prior express written consent naming the seller for every automated marketing call or text regardless of dialer type, calling hours of 8am to 8pm in the called party's time zone, no more than three attempts in 24 hours, registry and internal-list scrubs, accurate caller ID, and registration where a state requires it. That set satisfies the Florida and Oklahoma statutes and the federal rules at once, and removes the dialer-definition question from the analysis entirely.