Texas Telemarketing Laws: No-Call List, Texts & Registration

Texas telemarketing laws regulate when sales calls and texts can reach you, require telemarketers to register with the state before dialing, and give you a free, permanent spot on the Texas No Call List. The rules sit in Chapters 302, 304, and 305 of the Business and Commerce Code and work alongside the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. When a telemarketer breaks them, damages can run from $500 to $1,500 per call or text.

When Telemarketers Can and Can’t Call

Automated dialing and announcing devices cannot place solicitation calls before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. Sunday is tighter: nothing before noon or after 9:00 p.m.¹ Those same windows apply broadly to telemarketing calls and texts under Chapters 302 and 304.

Automated systems have to identify themselves fast. Within the first 30 seconds of the call, the recorded message must name the business placing the call and give a working callback number. The equipment also has to release your line within five seconds after you hang up.¹ An autodialer that fails to identify the caller inside that window has already violated the rule.

Federal law layers on more. The TCPA bars using autodialers or prerecorded voices to call a cell phone without prior express consent, and for marketing calls specifically it requires prior express written consent: a signed agreement, paper or electronic, that clearly says you’re agreeing to automated marketing contact and that your consent isn’t a condition of buying anything.²

Caller ID tricks are also illegal. Federal law under 47 U.S.C. § 227(e) prohibits transmitting misleading caller ID with intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value. That includes making a call look like it’s coming from a local number or a government agency when it isn’t.²

The Texas No Call List

The Texas No Call List is a statewide database maintained under Section 304.051 of the Business and Commerce Code, collecting the names, zip codes, and phone numbers of residents who don’t want telemarketing calls. Once your number appears on the current list, telemarketers have 60 days to stop calling.³

Signing up is free at TexasNoCall.com or by mailing a printed form.⁴ You can register landlines and cell phones. The registration never expires as long as you keep the number, so there’s nothing to renew.

Telemarketers get an updated list four times a year and must incorporate each update within 60 days.⁵ A telemarketer that keeps calling your registered number after that window is breaking state law.

Registering on the federal Do Not Call Registry at DoNotCall.gov is also free and permanent, and signing up for both lists gives you broader coverage because some callers check one but not the other.⁶

What Doesn’t Count as a Telemarketing Call

Not every unwanted call is covered. Nonprofit organizations, political campaigns, and survey researchers generally fall outside the statutory definition because they aren’t selling. Debt collectors contacting you about an existing obligation aren’t telemarketers for these purposes. And a business you already bought from or made an inquiry with can still contact you for a limited period after that transaction. The statute targets commercial solicitation to strangers, not every call a business might place.

Texts Are Treated the Same as Calls

Chapter 302’s definition of “telephone solicitation” covers text and graphic messages, not just voice. The calling-hour limits, the no-call list obligations, and the registration requirements all apply to marketing texts sent to Texas numbers.

At the federal level, the TCPA requires prior express written consent before a business sends you automated marketing texts. Each unauthorized text carries the same statutory damages as an unauthorized call: $500 per message, or up to $1,500 if the violation was knowing or willful.² If you want to stop receiving texts from a company you previously opted into, reply “STOP.” Businesses are required to honor opt-out requests within a reasonable period and may send one final confirmation message with no promotional content.

What a Telemarketer Has to Do Before Calling Texas

Before making a single sales call into or from Texas, a business must register with the Texas Secretary of State. The filing is a statement containing the information specified in Chapter 302, verified by each principal of the business, and everything in it becomes public information.⁷

The filing fee is $200.⁸ The registration must also include a $10,000 security deposit, which can be a surety bond from an approved corporate surety, an irrevocable letter of credit, or a certificate of deposit at a federally insured institution.⁹ The security is conditioned on compliance with Chapter 302, so it can be used to satisfy judgments if the business breaks the rules. Operating without this registration is itself a violation.

Filing a Complaint

If a telemarketer calls your number in violation of Texas law, you can file with the Public Utility Commission through its telecommunications complaint form⁵ and with the Office of the Attorney General through its consumer complaint portal.¹⁰

A complaint doesn’t guarantee an investigation of the company that called you. The Attorney General’s office reviews complaints to monitor consumer protection trends, and enforcement typically follows patterns rather than isolated reports. Filing still matters, because it’s a prerequisite before you can sue under one of the Texas statutes described below.

Suing a Telemarketer

Texas gives you two separate paths, with very different hurdles and payoffs.

No-Call List Violations Under Section 304.257

Section 304.257 lets you sue a telemarketer that calls your registered number, but only after you clear four hurdles. The statute kicks in on the second or later violation, not the first. You must notify the telemarketer of the alleged violation. Within 30 days of the offending call, you must file a verified complaint with the PUC, the Attorney General, or the state agency that licenses the caller. Then you wait at least 120 days to see whether the agency acts. Only if it doesn’t can you file suit.¹¹

Damages are modest. If the court finds the telemarketer willfully or knowingly violated the no-call rules, it may award up to $500 per violation.¹¹ The word “may” matters: the award isn’t automatic, and the statute doesn’t specify a damage amount at all without a finding of willful or knowing conduct.

TCPA Violations Under Section 305.053

Section 305.053 is the easier route when the violation involves the federal TCPA (47 U.S.C. § 227) or Chapter 305’s own provisions. There’s no complaint-first requirement. A prevailing plaintiff gets the greater of $500 per violation or actual damages, and if the court finds the violation was knowing or intentional, the award rises to the greater of $1,500 per violation or three times actual damages.¹² The court can also enter an injunction ordering the telemarketer to stop.

The TCPA itself provides a parallel remedy in state court: $500 per violation, trebled to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations.² Because each call and each text is a separate violation, the numbers add up quickly against a company that dials indiscriminately.

Telling One Company to Stop

You don’t have to be on any list to shut down a specific caller. Under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule, a company with an existing business relationship with you (generally up to 18 months after a purchase or 3 months after an inquiry) can call, but the moment you ask them to stop, they must add you to their internal do-not-call list and honor that request.¹³

If they call again after that request, the FTC can impose penalties of up to $53,088 per call.¹³ That’s a federal civil penalty paid to the government, not money you collect personally, but it gives a verbal “stop calling me” real weight when you report the continued contact.

1
Legal Information Institute. 16 Texas Admin Code 26.125 – Automatic Dial Announcing Devices (ADADs)
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 227 – Restrictions on Use of Telephone Equipment
3
Justia Law. Texas Business and Commerce Code 304.052 – Telemarketing Call to Telephone Number on List Prohibited
4
Texas No Call List. Texas No Call List
5
Public Utility Commission of Texas. On the No-Call List
6
Federal Trade Commission. National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
7
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code 302.102 – Filing of Registration Statement; Public Information
8
Texas Secretary of State. Telephone Solicitation Registration
9
Justia Law. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 302 – Regulation of Telephone Solicitation
10
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. File a Consumer Complaint
11
Justia Law. Texas Business and Commerce Code 304.257 – Private Action; Telemarketing Calls
12
State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code 305.053 – Civil Action
13
Federal Trade Commission. Q&A for Telemarketers and Sellers About DNC Provisions in TSR