On June 20, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas Senate Bill 140 into law, taking effect on Sept. 1, 2025. Among other things, this bill expands the scope of Texas’ telephone solicitation legislation (the Texas Telephone Solicitation Act, or TTSA) to include SMS and MMS messages and makes a violation of the TTSA an unfair trade practice for which a private party may bring a legal action.
What does that mean for you?
The TTSA now applies not only to telephone calls but also to text messages sent to induce someone to buy, rent, claim or receive a product or service. Businesses that send texts with these aims (defined in the TTSA as sellers) in Texas, or who aim their text campaigns at individuals located in Texas, must have an annual registration certificate. Importantly, merely “informational” text messages (e.g., a reminder of an upcoming scheduled appointment, a receipt from a completed transaction or an update on a delivery of a purchased product) are not within scope.
To get a registration certificate, text-marketers must submit a registration statement, a $200 filing fee and a $10,000 security deposit to the Texas Secretary of State. The security deposit can be in the form of a corporate bond, an irrevocable letter of credit or a certificate of deposit in a federally insured bank. The deposit can be released once a seller ceases activities covered by the TTSA.
A separate registration certificate must be held for each business location from which text solicitations are made and must be renewed annually. Sellers must also file quarterly reports with information about their salespeople and submit updates to the Secretary of State upon material changes to the information submitted in their registration statements.
Some important exemptions exist, including an exemption for educational institutions, nonprofits, food sellers and people engaged in isolated transactions (as defined in the act). The TTSA also doesn’t apply to businesses that have operated under the same name for at least two years and are soliciting sales only from current or former customers, or those attempting to solicit a contract to maintain or repair an item previously sold to that consumer by that seller. The statute also includes exemptions for the sale of newspaper, magazine or cable subscriptions, and for entities and transactions already regulated by other statutes.
Why does this matter?
Generally, non-compliance with the TTSA could come with criminal and civil penalties. Under the TTSA, knowingly engaging in text solicitation without a registration certificate is a Class A misdemeanor, for which the law provides penalties of up to a $4,000 fine and a year in jail. The TTSA also prescribes civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, and up to $25,000 per violation of any injunction against violation. In addition to these penalties, because any violation of the TTSA is deemed a false, misleading or deceptive act under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, affected consumers have a private right of action, exposing sellers to the risk of plaintiffs’ class action litigation.
