Florida FTSA: Mini-TCPA Text Message Rules
The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA), codified at Fla. Stat. 501.059, is the most consequential state texting statute in the country. Amended in 2021 to add a private right of action and a broad autodialer definition, it triggered a wave of class actions that made Florida the center of text message litigation, then was amended again in 2023 to pull back some of its sharpest edges. Any organization that texts Florida residents needs to know exactly what this law requires.
This guide explains the FTSA in plain language: what it covers, what the 2021 and 2023 amendments changed, and how to run a compliant program in Florida today.
What the FTSA Is
The FTSA is Florida's telemarketing statute. It long predates the texting era, but its modern significance dates to Senate Bill 1120 (2021), which did three things the federal TCPA did not:
- Created a private right of action allowing individuals to sue for violations, with statutory damages of 500 dollars per violation, trebled up to 1,500 dollars for willful and knowing violations, mirroring the federal TCPA's damages structure.
- Adopted a broad automation trigger. Where the federal ATDS definition, after Facebook v. Duguid, covers only random or sequential number generation, the FTSA restricted telephonic sales calls made using "an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers", language that reaches ordinary list-based texting platforms.
- Required prior express written consent for such automated telephonic sales calls, including texts, to Florida consumers.
Because texts count as telephonic sales calls under the statute, the FTSA effectively required signed consent for automated marketing texts to Florida numbers at a time when federal law had just narrowed.
The 2023 Amendments (HB 761)
After two years of heavy class action filing, Florida enacted House Bill 761 in May 2023, which narrowed the statute in three important ways:
- "Automated system" narrowed. The restriction now applies to systems used for the selection and dialing of numbers, both, not either, tightening the automation trigger.
- Unsolicited calls only. The consent requirement attaches to unsolicited telephonic sales calls, so messages sent in response to consumer inquiry or with existing consent sit differently.
- A 15-day cure period for text claims. Before suing over text messages, a consumer must reply STOP, and the sender gets 15 days to stop texting. Only messages sent after that window support a claim. This single change ended the drive-by lawsuit model built on one message.
The amendments applied to pending cases not yet certified as class actions, which reshaped the litigation landscape retroactively.
Core FTSA Requirements Today
| Requirement | Rule |
|---|---|
| Consent for automated marketing texts | Prior express written consent for unsolicited automated telephonic sales calls |
| Calling hours | 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time at the consumer's location |
| Frequency cap | No more than three telephonic sales calls on the same subject matter to the same person in a 24-hour period |
| Caller ID | No blocking or misleading caller identification |
| Opt-out and cure | STOP reply starts the 15-day cure clock; continued texts after 15 days are actionable |
| Damages | 500 dollars per violation; up to 1,500 dollars willful and knowing |
The hour and frequency limits apply to telephonic sales calls broadly, not only automated ones, and they are stricter than the federal telemarketing window. Multi-state senders typically adopt the tightest applicable limits fleet-wide; our guide to texting quiet hours across TCPA and state rules maps them.
Who and What the FTSA Covers
- Covered messages: telephonic sales calls, including texts, made to consumers in Florida. The statute protects Florida residents, so out-of-state senders texting Florida numbers are within reach.
- Exemptions: the FTSA carries exemptions paralleling Florida's broader telemarketing licensing law, including for certain religious, charitable, political, and educational solicitations and other categories enumerated by cross-reference to Fla. Stat. 501.604. Exemption analysis is fact-specific: an organization exempt from licensing is not automatically free of every FTSA provision, so counsel review is warranted before relying on one.
- Marketing character: the statute targets sales solicitation. Purely informational messages, appointment reminders, service alerts, are not telephonic sales calls, though mixed-content messages risk being treated as solicitation, the same trap that exists under federal law.
Complying in Practice
For a texting program that includes Florida recipients:
- Collect written consent for marketing texts with disclosures that meet both FCC and FTSA standards; one well-built opt-in satisfies both.
- Enforce 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time by recipient location and cap same-subject contacts at three per 24 hours.
- Honor STOP instantly, not on day 14. The cure period is a litigation shield, not a service-level target, and the FCC's federal revocation rules run in parallel.
- Keep consent and opt-out records per number, with timestamps and the language shown at opt-in.
- Track state law as a layer, not an afterthought: Florida is one of several states with mini-TCPA statutes, compared side by side in our guide to text message marketing laws by state.
What FTSA Litigation Taught Everyone
The FTSA's 2021 to 2023 class action wave was a natural experiment in what plaintiffs look for, and the lessons generalize to every state statute:
- Volume creates exposure before content does. The cases that settled largest were broadcast programs texting big lists, because per-message statutory damages scale with sends. List hygiene is exposure management.
- Consent records decided cases early. Defendants who could produce the opt-in language, timestamp, and source for each plaintiff got leverage immediately; those who could not faced the damages arithmetic.
- The plaintiffs' bar reads legislative gaps quickly. Filing surged within months of the 2021 amendment and re-targeted within weeks of the 2023 cure period. When a new state statute passes, assume enforcement arrives with it.
- Cure periods change tactics, not fundamentals. Post-2023, a Florida claim requires a STOP that went unhonored for 15 days, which only shifts the failure mode to opt-out processing. Organizations with instant suppression were unaffected by the entire saga.
The FTSA story is why compliance teams now treat state statutes as a moving front rather than a footnote to federal law, and why platform-level defaults, written consent, quiet hours, instant STOP, are set to the strictest state rather than renegotiated per campaign.
Practical Notes for Nonprofits and Local Organizations
Florida-based nonprofits, schools, and community organizations often assume the FTSA is a business problem. Two realities complicate that comfort. First, exemption fit is narrower than expected: an organization's status matters, but so does the message, and anything with a transactional flavor, event tickets, merchandise, auction promotion, drifts toward telephonic sales territory regardless of who sends it. Second, plaintiffs do not pre-screen defendants for sympathy; organizations with weak records settle for the same reasons businesses do.
The inexpensive protections are the same ones federal law already rewards: run marketing-flavored messages only on written consent, keep the informational stream strictly informational, enforce 8 to 8 sending and the three-per-24 cap in platform configuration rather than staff memory, and treat every STOP as immediate. Florida organizations have one advantage over out-of-state senders: their audiences are concentrated in a single statute's territory, so the configuration is simple. Set it once, document it, and the FTSA becomes background noise instead of a risk register entry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the FTSA apply to my organization if we are not in Florida?
Yes, if you text people in Florida. The statute protects Florida consumers regardless of where the sender operates, which is why national programs build FTSA requirements into their default settings.
Are nonprofits exempt from the FTSA?
The FTSA incorporates exemptions covering certain charitable, religious, political, and educational solicitations by cross-reference to Florida's telemarketing licensing exemptions. The fit depends on the organization and the message, and state exemptions do not remove federal TCPA duties, so documented opt-in remains the sound default.
What is the 15-day cure period exactly?
For text message claims, the recipient must first reply STOP to the number that texted them. The sender then has 15 days to cease texting. Only messages sent after those 15 days give rise to FTSA liability. It applies to text claims, not to the statute's other provisions.
Does the FTSA cover informational texts like appointment reminders?
The statute restricts telephonic sales calls, meaning solicitation. A pure appointment reminder is not a sales call. Adding promotional content to an informational message can convert it, so keep transactional streams clean.
How does the FTSA interact with the federal TCPA?
They stack. A text to a Florida consumer must satisfy both: federal consent tiers, revocation rules, and FCC regulations, plus the FTSA's consent, hours, frequency, and cure provisions. Compliance programs build to the strictest combined requirement.
Florida-Proof Your Texting Program
FRANSiS enforces quiet hours by recipient location, caps frequency, honors STOP the moment it arrives, and keeps the consent records that satisfy both the FTSA and the TCPA. Contact us to pressure-test your program against state law, and see our security page for how records are protected.
