On Friday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed the Telephone Solicitation Act of 2022 into law. Much like Florida’s telemarketing law from last year, it turns the existing state telemarketing regulations into something like a mini-Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The notable provisions and language closely track the Florida law, including:
- Prohibiting “a telephonic sales call to be made if such call involves an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers … without prior express written consent of the called party”
- No clear definition of what constitutes an automated system, which essentially means an expansive definition with respect to actually existing dialing technology
- A private right of action
- TCPA-like per-call penalties of up to $500-per-violation and up to $1,500-per-willful-violation
- A rebuttable presumption that a call made to any Oklahoma area code is made to a resident or person in the state at the time of the call
- Limiting callers to making three calls per-24-hour-period to any particular phone number
- Limiting calls to the hours of 8:00am through 8:00pm (a reduction from Oklahoma’s current 8:00am – 9:00pm limits)
The Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act does have an established business relationship (EBR) exemption. The law takes effect on November 1, 2022.