Pennsylvania just gave its telemarketing statute the most significant update it’s had in years. Senate Bill 992 folds text messaging, robocalls, caller ID spoofing, and electronic consent squarely into the state’s telemarketing framework, and businesses have until October 18, 2026, to get their compliance programs in line.
If your company calls or texts Pennsylvania consumers for marketing purposes, this is a good time to pull your consent language, texting scripts, calling hours, and registration status out of the drawer and take a hard look.
Texting Is No Longer a Gray Area
Some companies have treated Pennsylvania’s telemarketing law as a voice-calling statute and left text messaging out of the compliance conversation almost entirely. That reading doesn’t hold up anymore. The amendments make it clear: marketing texts are telephone solicitations, full stop.
The Consent Bar Just Got Higher
Here’s the change most compliance programs will feel first. Pennsylvania narrowed the “telephone solicitation” exclusion for consented communications. Under the old law, a marketing communication made with the recipient’s express consent was not a telephone solicitation. Under the amended law, the exclusion only extends to marketing communications made with prior express written consent: something documented, like a signed agreement, an online form submission, a website checkbox, or similar written authorization.
Other familiar “telephone solicitation” exclusions survive the rewrite, including communications:
- tied to an existing debt, contract, payment, or performance obligation;
- made within an established business relationship; and
- made on behalf of qualifying charitable, political, or veterans’ organizations.
Whether or not a marketing communication is a “telephone solicitation” determines other compliance obligations. If your compliance position relied on the old, looser express consent standard, now is the time to evaluate whether you can rely on the new, stricter prior express written consent exclusion.
New Calling Hours, and Sundays Are Off the Table
Pennsylvania is also tightening the calling window. Effective October 18, telephone solicitations are prohibited:
- before 9:00 a.m.;
- after 7:00 p.m.; or
- at any time on Sundays.
That’s narrower than the old 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window, which mirrored the federal standard, and the Sunday prohibition is new; there was no such restriction before. Dialing rules and campaign settings should be updated before the effective date.
Stop Texts Need to Mean More Than “STOP”
Echoing a piece of the FCC’s recently amended revocation-of-consent rules, Pennsylvania now treats a broader list of opt-out keywords as valid requests to communicate intent to stop receiving telephone solicitation texts: these include STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, and UNSUBSCRIBE. If your texting platform is only built to catch “STOP,” it isn’t compliant anymore, so it’s worth reviewing your keyword list before the law takes effect.
Robocalls Get Their Own Rulebook
The amendments also expand the robocall framework, redefining a “robocall” as a telephone solicitation delivered through an automated dialing system with a prerecorded or artificial voice message.
Prior express written consent is required before placing a robocall to a residential, business, or wireless line. That standard largely tracks federal law, but Pennsylvania went out of its way to confirm that electronic and digital signatures satisfy it if consistent with the federal E-SIGN Act.
The law also bans:
- unfair or deceptive practices used to obtain consent; and
- synthetic or computer-generated messaging used to defraud, deceive, or mislead consumers.
The updated robocall framework is a clear signal that Pennsylvania, like regulators elsewhere, is watching AI-generated voice and messaging technology closely. Any business using prerecorded, artificial-voice, or AI-generated calls or texts should confirm its consent practices hold up under the new Pennsylvania standard.
Federal Violations Now Carry a Pennsylvania Price Tag
The amended statute expressly prohibits deceptive or abusive telemarketing practices that violate the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule or the FCC’s caller ID requirements. In practice, that means a federal compliance misstep can now create exposure under Pennsylvania law too: one violation, two fronts.
Caller ID Spoofing: Still a Major Risk, Still No Intent Requirement
Telemarketers may not falsify their name or number when making a solicitation call. Notably, this prohibition skips the intent standard built into federal caller ID prohibitions, meaning false caller ID information could create exposure even without proof the business meant to deceive anyone. Be sure to take a fresh look at your caller ID practices.
Registration Exemptions Get Reorganized
Under the new law, anyone whose calls or messages don’t meet the definition of “telephone solicitation” do not have to register as a telemarketer. Several existing registration exemptions are also preserved, including exemptions for certain business-to-business communications and businesses already licensed or registered with a federal or Pennsylvania agency.
The wrinkle: some provisions that used to function as broader exclusions built into the definition of “telemarketer” have been reorganized as registration exemptions only instead. That’s not a cosmetic edit, and businesses that relied on those older exclusions should determine if they land in the same compliance position under the restructured framework.
Getting Ready Before October 18th
With roughly two months on the clock, here’s where to start:
- Test consent language against the new prior express written consent standard.
- Audit texting compliance to account for the expanded definition of telephone solicitation.
- Update opt-out handling to recognize every required revocation keyword, not just “STOP.”
- Adjust dialing rules for the new 9:00 a.m.-to-7:00 p.m. window and the Sunday prohibition.
- Confirm written consent is in hand for any robocall campaigns.
- Review caller ID practices, including those managed by vendors, for falsity risk.
- Reassess registration status under the restructured exemption framework.
- Brief marketing, compliance, and vendor-management teams before the law takes effect.
Pennsylvania’s overhaul is one of the more consequential state-level telemarketing updates in recent years, and it touches nearly every part of a typical marketing compliance program at once: consent, texting, calling hours, robocalls, caller ID, and registration. Businesses that start their review now will be in a far better position than those scrambling after October 18th.
If you’re interested in a compliance audit for your telemarketing practices, please contact us.
*Adham Hamed contributed to this article.
