Attentive takes compliance seriously and strives to give you the tools necessary to remain compliant with state and federal law. As a board member of the CTIA and with the deepest in-house TCPA-focused legal team, we are constantly monitoring developments affecting telecommunications laws to help keep you informed and ahead of the curve.

As you may be aware, Texas recently passed amendments to its mini-TCPA, which are set to go into effect on September 1, 2025. Notable changes to the Texas mini-TCPA include:

• The mini-TCPA now expressly applies to text messages. Section 302.001(7), which defines the term “telephone solicitation”, has been amended to specifically include “transmission of a text or graphic message or of an image” (in addition to voice calls). As with voice calls, the Texas mini-TCPA does not prohibit sending text messages to subscribers who have consented to receive them. Our standard opt-in process is designed for you to obtain consent from your subscribers so no change is required in response to this change.

• Quiet Hours on Sunday before 12 p.m. and after 9 p.m. Given that the mini-TCPA has been amended to expressly include text messages, quiet hours previously set forth in Section 301.051 of the mini-TCPA also now apply to text messages. The mini-TCPA provides for Quiet Hours on Monday through Saturday from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. as well as on Sunday before 12 p.m. and after 9 p.m. Notably, these quiet hours do not apply to messages sent in response to the "express request of the consumer" or to messages sent to consumers with whom the business has a "prior or existing business relationship." Neither of these terms are specifically defined, so there is not yet guidance on what constitutes an express request or a business relationship. Both terms could be interpreted to include messages sent to consumers who consented to receive your messages, in which case quiet hours would not apply to your messages. On the other hand, they could be interpreted more narrowly to only include messages sent in direct response to an inbound message or to consumers who made a recent purchase, in which case quiet hours may apply to some of your messages. As a reminder, our platform allows for "Quiet Hours" to be set to prevent you from sending triggered messages to your subscribers during certain hours (excluding legal and welcome messages, opt out confirmation, etc.). Given the ambiguity in the law, we recommend following our default Quiet Hours recommendations and instructing your employees not to send messages between 8 PM-12 PM ET as well as before 2 PM ET on Sundays. We also recommend that you consult your counsel if you have questions regarding changes to your quiet hours settings. For more information regarding Quiet Hours, please see this article on our Help Center. As always, we will continue to monitor developments and update our recommendations and guidance as appropriate. 

• Registration Requirement. Similarly, given that the mini-TCPA has been amended to expressly include text messages, the registration requirement that exists under Section 302.101 now also applies to businesses sending telephone solicitations via text message. Specifically, absent an exemption, Section 302.101 requires businesses sending telephone solicitations (including text messages) either from a location in Texas and/or to a purchaser in Texas to register with the Texas Public Utility Commission (“PUC”) and provides for a $5,000 per violation fine for businesses that fail to do so. A “purchaser” is defined to include a person who “is solicited to become or becomes obligated for the purchase or rental of an item” or “is offered an opportunity to claim or receive an item.” Importantly, there are numerous exemptions to the registration requirement, including, by way of example only:
  
  • If you are only messaging consumers with whom you have an existing business relationship.  As noted above, “existing business relationship” is not a defined term; you should contact your legal counsel if you have any questions regarding whether this exemption applies to you;
  • The purpose of your messages is not to make a sale; or
  • You are a publicly traded company registered with the SEC or the State Securities Board.

A full list of exemptions can be found here. The registration requirement largely hinges on whether an exemption applies to your company, which is ultimately an analysis that needs to be considered on a company-by-company basis. That said, Section 302.003 of the law makes clear that the registration requirement is intended to be "liberally  construed” so if you and your counsel are unsure whether or not you are exempt from the requirement, we recommend registering with the PUC in an abundance of caution.

There is a $200 fee to register and you are required to file a $10,000 security deposit along with your registration statement. This is done with the state of Texas. Registration forms can be found here. More information regarding the registration process can be found here on the Texas Secretary of State website.

Please contact your Attentive CSM or White Glove if you have any questions. Attentive continues to monitor developments here, and with other state laws, and will continue to update its product as developments occur.