State Law
Florida Mini-TCPA: The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA)
What is the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act?
Short answerThe FTSA (Fla. Stat. § 501.059) is Florida's telemarketing statute. Since 2021 it has carried a private right of action allowing a consumer to recover actual damages or $500 per violation, whichever is greater, trebled for willful violations -- and, unusually, attorney fees for the prevailing party. It applies on top of the federal TCPA, not instead of it.
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Florida's mini-TCPA is the one worth understanding first, because it produced more litigation than every other state statute combined and because its structure is the template several other states copied.
How it got here
The FTSA existed for years as an ordinary telemarketing statute enforced by the state. In 2021, SB 1120 added a private right of action with fixed statutory damages, and filings rose sharply -- the combination of a low proof burden, fixed damages and recoverable fees made class filings economically attractive in a way the previous version was not.
In 2023 the legislature reversed part of it. HB 761, signed on May 25, 2023, made two changes that matter:
- "Selection and dialing". The statute previously reached an automated system used for the selection or dialing of numbers. The amendment changed it to and, creating a two-part test -- the system must do both. A great many claims had been built on the disjunctive reading.
- A 15-day text safe harbor. Where a consumer replies
STOP, the solicitor has 15 days to stop sending, with one confirmation message allowed.
Both changes applied to new actions and to pending putative class actions in which no class had yet been certified, which disposed of a substantial backlog.
What still applies
| Provision | Effect |
|---|---|
| § 501.059(1)(j) | A "telephonic sales call" includes a call, text message or voicemail transmission soliciting a sale of consumer goods or services. |
| § 501.059(10)(a) | Private right of action: actual damages or $500, whichever is greater. |
| § 501.059(10)(b) | Willful or knowing violation: court may increase to not more than 3x. |
| § 501.059(11)(a) | Prevailing party recovers reasonable attorney fees and costs. |
Note that texts and voicemail drops are squarely inside the definition. A team that thinks of the FTSA as a calling statute and runs SMS campaigns against Florida numbers has misread it.
Why the fee provision matters more than the damages
A $500 claim is not worth a plaintiff's firm filing on its own. A $500 claim with recoverable attorney fees is a practice area. When comparing state exposure, look at fee-shifting first -- it predicts filing volume far better than the damages number does. Oklahoma's statute was modelled on Florida's pre-2023 text and has no fee provision.
Florida's other two calling rules
The FTSA is the Florida statute that gets sued on, but it is not the only one a caller has to follow.
- Calling hours and a three-call cap. Florida's Telemarketing Act, § 501.616(6), bars commercial telephone solicitation calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. in the called person's time zone, and more than three to the same person on the same subject in 24 hours. The Act exempts many kinds of caller from its other requirements, but § 501.604 says in terms that none of those exemptions reaches these two limits. Note what it is not: the FTSA's $500 private right of action covers violations of § 501.059, and this rule sits in a different section.
- Florida's own Do Not Call list. The FTSA also creates a state "no sales solicitation calls" list, separate from the national registry, that a solicitor may not call or text without an exemption. The Florida Do Not Call list covers who must buy it, the exemptions and the penalties.
It stacks with the federal TCPA
The FTSA is additional, not alternative. One text to a Florida mobile without adequate consent can support a federal TCPA claim and an FTSA claim simultaneously, pleaded in the same complaint. Compliance with one does not establish compliance with the other, and the definitions do not line up -- Florida's automated-system test is its own, not a reference to the federal autodialer standard narrowed in Facebook v. Duguid.
Quick check: the Florida mini-TCPA
Pick an answer to see whether it is right, and why.
What to actually do
Nothing Florida-specific, if your federal process is sound. The same three controls carry most of the weight: documented prior express written consent retained in a form you can produce, a suppression list honoured across voice and SMS within the federal 10-business-day window, and litigator screening before each campaign.
The one Florida-specific habit worth adopting is treating your SMS list with the same care as your call list. The statute covers both, and text campaigns are where most FTSA exposure has been generated.
NumberBroom screens every row against a court-sourced litigator database alongside carrier-level validation, in one pass. Check a number with the free carrier lookup, or see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
What are FTSA damages?
Under § 501.059(10)(a), a called party may recover actual damages or $500 per violation, whichever is greater. Under (10)(b), where the court finds the violation willful or knowing it may increase the award to not more than three times that amount.
The provision that drives filings, though, is § 501.059(11)(a): the prevailing party recovers reasonable attorney fees and costs.
Did the 2023 amendment kill the FTSA?
No -- it narrowed it. HB 761, signed May 25, 2023, tightened the autodialer definition and added a safe harbor for text solicitations, which removed a large class of marginal claims. The private right of action, the $500 damages and the fee-shifting provision all remain.
The amendment applies to new actions and to putative class actions not certified by May 25, 2023 (ch. 2023-150).
What is the 15-day STOP safe harbor?
For text solicitations, the amendment gives a solicitor 15 days from receiving a consumer's STOP reply to cease sending, with one confirmation message permitted. Before suing over text solicitations the consumer must reply STOP, and a claim lies only if texts keep coming more than 15 days after that notice (§ 501.059(10)(c)).
Treat it as a backstop rather than an operating target. It is a Florida-specific text-only allowance, and the federal revocation rules -- 10 business days, all channels -- are both tighter and broader. Build to the federal deadline and the safe harbor takes care of itself.
Does Florida limit calling hours?
Yes, though not in the FTSA. Florida's Telemarketing Act, § 501.616(6), bars commercial telephone solicitation calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. in the called person's time zone, and more than three calls to the same person on the same subject in 24 hours, including calls made by automated dialing or recorded message. The Act's exemptions (§ 501.604) expressly do not reach those two limits. Calling hours by state sets Florida beside the others.
Does the FTSA apply if my business is not in Florida?
Generally yes. The statute reaches telephonic sales calls made to Florida consumers; where the caller sits is not the test. Any purchased national list will contain Florida numbers, so "we are not a Florida company" is not a defence.