Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act: SMS Rules

The Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act (OTSA), codified at Okla. Stat. tit. 15, sections 775C.1 through 775C.7, took effect on November 1, 2022 and made Oklahoma one of a handful of states with its own private-right-of-action texting statute. Modeled closely on Florida's FTSA as originally enacted, the OTSA restricts automated telephonic sales calls, including text messages, to Oklahoma residents without prior express written consent.

Notably, Oklahoma did not follow Florida's 2023 retreat: the OTSA retains the broader automation language and has no text-message cure period. That makes it, in some respects, the stricter statute today. Here is what it says, in plain language.

What the OTSA Restricts

The OTSA's central provision prohibits making a telephonic sales call to an Oklahoma resident if the call involves "an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers or the playing of a recorded message" without the prior express written consent of the called party. Three definitional points unpack that:

1. Texts are covered. The statute's definition of telephonic sales call encompasses text messages sent for solicitation purposes.
2. "Selection or dialing" is disjunctive. A system that automatically selects numbers from a list, or automatically dials or transmits, can trigger the statute. This is the pre-amendment Florida language, broader than the federal ATDS definition after Facebook v. Duguid, and it plausibly reaches ordinary list-based broadcast platforms.
3. Solicitation is the trigger. The OTSA governs sales calls: messages promoting goods, services, or investment. Purely informational messages are outside the definition, with the usual caution that mixed content risks being read as solicitation.

Core Requirements

That last row deserves emphasis: texting a 405, 539, 572, 580, or 918 number presumptively brings you under the statute, regardless of where your organization sits. National senders cannot geofence their way out by checking billing addresses alone.

How the OTSA Differs From Florida's FTSA Today

Because the OTSA copied the FTSA's original text and Florida later amended its own statute, the two now diverge in ways that matter:

• No cure period. Florida's 2023 amendments require a STOP reply and a 15-day cure window before text claims. Oklahoma has no equivalent: liability can attach without a warning shot.
• Broader automation trigger. Florida narrowed its definition to systems that both select and dial; Oklahoma retains "selection or dialing."
• No "unsolicited" narrowing. Florida limited its consent requirement to unsolicited calls; Oklahoma's provision was not so amended.

The practical consequence: programs that calibrated their compliance to post-amendment Florida should not assume Oklahoma matches. The state-by-state differences are mapped in our guide to text message marketing laws by state.

Exemptions

The OTSA incorporates a list of exemptions drawn from Oklahoma's telemarketing framework, covering categories such as calls made with the recipient's prior express invitation, certain established commercial relationships, and enumerated regulated industries. As with every state statute, the exemptions are specific and fact-dependent: an organization should confirm its fit with counsel rather than assume, and no OTSA exemption removes federal TCPA obligations, which apply in parallel.

For tax-exempt nonprofits, the analysis echoes the federal one: fundraising appeals framed as solicitation carry more risk than mission updates, and documented written consent moots the question entirely.

Complying in Practice

A texting program that includes Oklahoma numbers should:

1. Collect prior express written consent for marketing texts, with the disclosure elements that satisfy the FCC's definition at 47 CFR 64.1200(f); one properly built opt-in covers both regimes.
2. Enforce the 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. window by recipient local time and cap same-subject sends at three per 24 hours.
3. Send from a number that can receive calls, with accurate caller ID, which registered 10DLC and toll-free numbers satisfy.
4. Honor opt-outs immediately. There is no cure period to lean on, and the FCC's federal revocation rules run alongside.
5. Keep records: consent language, timestamp, source, and opt-out log per subscriber.

These controls are the same architecture as full federal compliance, extended with state hour and frequency logic; the complete program is laid out in our TCPA compliance checklist.

Why Oklahoma Matters Beyond Oklahoma

The OTSA's significance in the national picture is structural: it demonstrates that the mini-TCPA map does not move in one direction. When Florida narrowed the FTSA in 2023, some compliance teams treated the whole category as a receding tide. Oklahoma's statute, unamended, is the counterexample: the original broad framework remains live law, and any national list contains Oklahoma numbers.

Three planning consequences follow:

1. Program defaults must track the strictest live statute, not the most recently amended one. A program tuned to post-amendment Florida is out of compliance in Oklahoma on the automation trigger and the missing cure period.
2. Litigation follows the broadest statute available. Plaintiffs choose their theory, and a statute with a disjunctive automation definition and no cure requirement is a more attractive vehicle than its narrowed sibling. Oklahoma filings have followed the Florida playbook accordingly.
3. Statute drift is ongoing. Legislatures in both directions, states tightening, states adding cure periods, revisit these laws most sessions. A compliance posture reviewed annually against the current map, rather than set once, is the only stable approach.

For organizations building once and sending everywhere, the practical rule stays simple: written consent, 8 to 8 recipient-local hours, conservative frequency, instant opt-outs, and complete records satisfy Oklahoma, Florida, and every statute in between.

Comparing Exposure: A Sender's Risk Review

A practical way to internalize the OTSA is to run your own program through a short review, the same questions a defense lawyer would ask on day one:

1. Do any messages promote goods, services, or donations with a transactional character? Those are the messages the statute reaches; inventory them.
2. For each, can you produce written consent for every Oklahoma-presumed number, with the language shown and a timestamp? Gaps here are the whole case.
3. Are sends time-restricted to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local and capped at three same-subject contacts per 24 hours in platform configuration, or by habit? Configuration survives staff turnover; habit does not.
4. What is your measured STOP-to-suppression time? With no cure period, the answer needs to be minutes.
5. If a claim arrived tomorrow naming a specific number and date, how long would assembling the defense file take? An afternoon means your records are real; a month means they are theoretical.

Programs that pass this review pass every mini-TCPA review, which is the point: Oklahoma's statute is strict enough to be the standard you build to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the OTSA apply to out-of-state organizations?

Yes. The statute protects Oklahoma residents, and a text to an Oklahoma area code presumptively reaches one. Where the sender is located does not matter.

Is there a cure period like Florida's before someone can sue?

No. The OTSA contains no text-message cure provision. The first violating message can support a claim, which makes instant opt-out handling and clean consent records the only reliable protection.

What damages can a plaintiff recover?

The statute provides 500 dollars per violation, and up to 1,500 dollars per violation for willful or knowing conduct. Because each message can be a separate violation, exposure scales with list size and send frequency.

Are informational texts like appointment reminders covered?

The OTSA restricts telephonic sales calls, meaning solicitation. Purely informational messages fall outside it, though they remain subject to federal TCPA consent principles and carrier rules. Keep promotional content out of transactional streams to preserve that line.

Does complying with the federal TCPA automatically satisfy the OTSA?

Mostly but not entirely. Federal law does not impose Oklahoma's 8 to 8 window or its three-per-24-hours cap, and the OTSA's automation trigger is broader than the federal ATDS definition. Programs need state-level hour, frequency, and consent logic layered onto federal compliance.

Compliance That Travels State to State

FRANSiS applies recipient-location quiet hours, frequency caps, instant opt-out suppression, and written-consent records automatically, so texting Oklahoma numbers is as safe as texting anywhere else. Contact us to review your state-law exposure, and see our security page for how consent data is protected.