Florida TCPA compliance means satisfying three overlapping rulebooks at once: the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA), the Florida Telemarketing Act, and the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Florida’s state rules are stricter than federal law in several places, and a business that meets only the federal standard can still be sued for $500 per call under Florida law. The core obligations are a license from the state, prior express written consent for any automated or prerecorded contact, careful handling of Do Not Call lists and caller ID, and a records system that can produce a signed consent form for any specific call on demand.
The Two Florida Laws Behind “Florida TCPA”
Most people searching for “Florida TCPA” are looking for the state’s version of telemarketing rules, but Florida regulates this area through two separate statutes rather than one. The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, Section 501.059, governs how and when you may contact consumers by phone, text, or voicemail. It controls consent, Do Not Call compliance, caller ID, and the private right to sue.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation The Florida Telemarketing Act, in Part IV of Chapter 501, handles licensing, bonding, and operational requirements for commercial telephone sellers. Both apply simultaneously, and violating one does not excuse violating the other.
The federal TCPA sits on top of both. It is not preempted by state law and does not preempt Florida’s stricter requirements. On any given issue, you follow whichever rule is tougher, which in Florida usually means the state rule.
Prior Express Written Consent
This is where Florida’s rules diverge most sharply from federal law. Any call that uses an autodialer, plays a prerecorded message, or leaves a prerecorded voicemail requires prior express written consent from the recipient. Oral consent is not enough under Florida law.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation
A valid consent agreement must contain all four of these elements:
- The consumer’s signature (electronic signatures count)
- The name of the specific company authorized to make the calls or texts
- The phone number the consumer is authorizing contact on
- A clear disclosure that the consumer is agreeing to receive automated calls, prerecorded messages, or texts, and that signing is not a condition of purchasing anything
That last point catches many businesses. You cannot require someone to consent to telemarketing as a condition of buying your product. Any consent form that bundles marketing authorization into a purchase agreement is invalid, and every call made under that invalid consent is a separate potential violation.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation
Do Not Call Lists, Calling Hours, and Caller ID
FDACS maintains a state Do Not Call list that is separate from the federal registry. Consumer registration is free and permanent.2Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Florida Do Not Call Telemarketers may not place unsolicited sales calls to any number on the current quarterly list.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation You need to scrub against both the state and federal lists, because a number can be on one and not the other.
Calling hours are limited to 8 a.m. through 9 p.m. in the recipient’s local time zone. The consumer’s time zone controls, not the caller’s.
Every call must transmit the originating phone number (and the solicitor’s name, if the carrier supports it) to the recipient’s caller ID. You may substitute a customer service number, but that number must be staffed during regular business hours and must connect the caller back to the solicitor or the company. A disconnected or fake number violates the statute.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation Deliberately spoofing caller ID to conceal your identity is a second-degree misdemeanor under the Telemarketing Act.3Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 501.616 – Unlawful Acts and Practices
Identifying Yourself on Every Call
The moment a Florida consumer picks up an unsolicited sales call, the telemarketer must give their true first and last name along with the name of the business they represent. Not a nickname. Not a shortened company name. The actual name, before any pitch begins.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation Recordings that show the salesperson launching into a pitch without identifying themselves are routine evidence in FTSA lawsuits. Build the identification into the script as the opening line.
Text Messages and the STOP Reply Rule
Florida treats text messages and marketing voicemails as “telephonic sales calls.” Every consent, Do Not Call, caller ID, and calling-hours rule that applies to voice calls applies equally to texts.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation
Texts come with one unique procedural wrinkle. Before a consumer can sue over unwanted marketing texts, they must first reply “STOP” to the sending number. The solicitor then has 15 days to stop all texts to that number. Only if the solicitor fails to honor the opt-out within that window can the consumer bring a claim.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation The STOP requirement is text-specific and does not apply to voice calls or voicemails. A reliable system for processing STOP replies within 15 days is one of the best lawsuit-prevention tools available for text campaigns.
Opt-outs that arrive through any other channel also have to be honored. Once a consumer tells the seller in any form to stop, outbound contact must cease.
Licensing and Bonding Before You Call
A commercial telephone seller needs a license from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services before making a single sales call. The business license is $1,500 per year, and each salesperson needs an individual license at $50 per year.4Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. How Much Does a Telemarketing License Cost On top of the fees, the business must post security of at least $50,000, in the form of a surety bond, certificate of deposit, or letter of credit.
Some businesses qualify for one of the 28 statutory exemptions from the Telemarketing Act, but several of those exemptions still require the entity to file an affidavit of exemption with FDACS before operating and to display a receipt of that filing at its place of business.5Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Telemarketing Exemptions
Records You Must Keep for Two Years
Commercial telephone sellers must retain, for at least two years, the name and phone number of every consumer contacted, all documentation of express consent, and copies of any scripts, outlines, or sales materials used by salespersons.6Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 501.6175 – Recordkeeping When a consent dispute lands in court, these records are your primary defense. If you cannot produce the signed consent form for a specific call within a reasonable time, you are fighting uphill.
Exemptions and the Established Business Relationship
Organizations soliciting for religious, charitable, political, or educational purposes are exempt from the licensing and registration requirements of the Telemarketing Act under Section 501.604(2). Nonprofits soliciting for other noncommercial purposes qualify only if they are registered with the Secretary of State and hold tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6).7Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.604 – Exemptions Important boundary: exemption from licensing does not mean exemption from calling restrictions. These organizations still have to honor the Do Not Call list and other consumer protection provisions.
The exception most businesses rely on is the established business relationship. Under the FTSA, a call is not “unsolicited” if the solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship with the recipient, if the consumer expressly requested the call, or if the call concerns an existing debt or contract.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation Florida sets no time limit on how old that relationship can be, but federal Do Not Call rules cap it at 18 months, and the federal cap applies on top of Florida law. In practice, 18 months controls.8Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. May I Call Consumers That I Have Previously Done Business With
Newspaper publishers and their employees are also exempt from the FTSA when calls are connected to their publishing business.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation
What Violations Cost
Florida enforces its telemarketing rules through three tracks, and the exposure compounds quickly.
FDACS and the Department of Legal Affairs can pursue civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation plus injunctive relief.9Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. What Are the Penalties for a Do Not Call Violation FDACS also has authority to impose administrative fines as an alternative to court-ordered civil penalties.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation
Individual consumers can sue under Section 501.059(10) and recover $500 per violation or actual damages, whichever is greater. If the court finds the violation willful or knowing, that award can be trebled to $1,500 per violation. Consumers can also seek injunctive relief.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 501.059 – Telephone Solicitation This private right of action drives most FTSA litigation. Class actions aggregate thousands of individual $500 claims, and the math is unforgiving: 5,000 unsolicited texts at $500 each is $2.5 million before trebling.
The criminal track is narrow. Most violations are civil, but deliberately spoofing caller ID to hide your identity is a second-degree misdemeanor.3Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 501.616 – Unlawful Acts and Practices
Where Florida Is Stricter Than Federal Law
The federal TCPA does not preempt stricter state telemarketing rules. On any issue, the tougher rule governs, and in Florida that is almost always the state rule.
Consent is the biggest practical gap. A February 2026 Fifth Circuit ruling held that the federal TCPA does not require written consent for automated marketing calls, meaning oral consent can satisfy the federal statute in that circuit. That ruling has no effect on Florida’s separate written-consent requirement. A business calling Florida consumers still needs signed written consent for any automated or prerecorded contact, regardless of what the federal courts say.
The established business relationship is the other notable gap. Florida sets no time limit, federal law caps it at 18 months, and because both apply, the federal cap controls.8Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. May I Call Consumers That I Have Previously Done Business With Build your compliance program around whichever rule is stricter on each issue, and you will usually end up following Florida.