Calling in the U.S.A notice: Oklahoma and Washington

[mflorell]

For those of you who's organizations place calls within the United States. A couple of new states are joining Florida in adding new "mini-TCPA" laws to their books to further restrict sales-related calls:

Oklahoma -
On November 1 of 2022, a similar state of Oklahoma “mini-TCPA” law(HB-3168) that is very similar to how Florida’s new law operates, went into effect. It also disallows most automated sales calls(including ringless-voicmails and SMS texts), as well as the 3-calls-within-24-hours call limit, the 8am-8pm allowed calling time, and the “express consent” provisions of Florida’s law. This new law applies to any sales calls to “any area code in this state”, similar to how Florida’s law handles the presumption of who is an Oklahoma resident. One other provision of this law is that it prohibits any efforts to “intentionally alter the voice of the caller”.

Okalahoma’s new mini-TCPA law does have several additional exceptions compared to Florida’s similar law though, including exceptions for Funeral Services and anyone “licensed or certified to handle pesticides” in the state of Oklahoma. For more details on this law, you can read the actual text of the law at the following link:
http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/hB/HB3168%20ENR.PDF

Washington-state -
On June 9 of 2022, a somewhat similar “mini-TCPA” law(HB-1497) also went into effect in Washington state. This new law moves beyond just sales calls since it also includes any organization soliciting for money. The 8am-8pm permissible calling time provision from Florida’s law is also present here. But, Washington’s law does not have the 3-calls in a 24-hour period restriction, the requirement to get “express consent” for the person being called, or most of the long list of exemptions that Florida and Oklahoma’s laws have. It does however have a requirement that callers must identify themselves and where they are calling from within 30 seconds of the call connecting, as well as this interesting requirement:
"If, at any time during the telephone contact, the called party states or indicates they want to end the call, the telephone solicitor must end the call within 10 seconds.".

There are also some additional details enaced in this law, you can read the actual text of the law at the following link:
https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/1497-S.SL.pdf?q=20220525151557