State Law
The Florida Do Not Call List
What is the Florida Do Not Call list?
Short answerIt is Florida's own "no sales solicitation calls" list, kept by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under Fla. Stat. § 501.059(3), and separate from the National Do Not Call Registry. Registration is free and does not expire. A telephone solicitor may not make an unsolicited sales call or text to a number on the current quarterly list, and a called party can sue for $500 per violation, trebled if willful, plus attorney fees.
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On this page
Florida runs its own Do Not Call list, separate from the federal registry. For a business that calls or texts Florida numbers, it is a second list to buy and scrub against, with its own schedule, its own exemptions and a private right of action that makes each violation worth suing over.
What a business has to do
The rule itself is one sentence. Under § 501.059(4), no telephone solicitor may make or cause to be made "any unsolicited telephonic sales call to any residential, mobile, or telephonic paging device telephone number if the number for that telephone appears in the then-current quarterly listing." Everything operational follows from three parts of that sentence.
- "Telephonic sales call" includes texts and voicemail. The definition in § 501.059(1)(j) is "a telephone call, text message, or voicemail transmission" to solicit a sale. An SMS campaign is inside the rule, not beside it.
- "Then-current quarterly listing." FDACS publishes the list quarterly, for registration periods beginning 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, and makes each update available about 30 days before the period starts. A list bought last quarter is not the list the statute refers to this quarter.
- "Cause to be made." Hiring a call centre or a texting vendor does not move the obligation. The same subsection also requires anyone who sells consumer contact data to screen out and exclude numbers on the list.
The list is sold by FDACS itself. Its business page says it is ordered and paid for online, delivered as an ASCII file of phone numbers only, and limited to the area codes you order. It also says, in terms, that buying the national list does not excuse you from buying Florida's.
When a listed number may still be called
The statute does not carve numbers out of the list; it narrows what counts as an unsolicited call. Under § 501.059(1)(k), a call is not unsolicited if it is made:
- in response to an express request of the person called;
- primarily in connection with an existing debt or contract whose payment or performance has not been completed;
- to a person with whom the solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship; or
- by a newspaper publisher.
FDACS's rule, Fla. Admin. Code r. 5J-5.001, puts limits on two of those that FDACS's own FAQ page does not mention: an express request has to be written, signed and list the specific numbers, and it covers calls for no more than 18 months; a prior or existing business relationship means a purchase within the preceding 18 months or an inquiry within the preceding three. The statute also exempts a licensed real estate agent calling a seller or landlord who advertised the property, for example with a yard sign.
The list is not Florida's only calling rule
A separate statute, § 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. Florida's exemption list, § 501.604, expressly exempts no one from those two limits. Calling hours by state compares them with every other state's.
What a violation costs
| Who acts | What they can recover | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The person called | Actual damages or $500, whichever is greater; up to 3x if willful or knowing; the prevailing party's attorney fees and costs | § 501.059(10)(a)-(b), (11)(a) |
| The state, in court | A civil penalty in the Class IV category: $10,000 or more per violation | § 501.059(9)(a); § 570.971(1)(d) |
| FDACS, administratively | A fine of up to $10,000; the rule sets $5,000 to $10,000 per violation | § 501.059(9)(b); r. 5J-5.003(4) |
For texts there is one precondition on the private claim: the consumer must reply STOP and can sue only if messages keep coming more than 15 days later (§ 501.059(10)(c)). The fee-shifting provision is the part that matters most in practice, for the reason covered on the Florida mini-TCPA page: it makes a $500 claim worth a lawyer's time.
If you want to add your own number
Registration is free, online at FDACS's Do Not Call portal with the phone number and an email address, and a number stays on the list indefinitely. The same portal lets you check whether a number is already listed. Registering on the Florida list is separate from the National Do Not Call Registry, which is run by the FTC at donotcall.gov.
Where NumberBroom fits
NumberBroom does not check the Florida list, and nothing it returns should be read as a Florida Do Not Call check. Its federal Registry check runs only for a signed-in customer who links their own SAN, on lists of up to 1,000 numbers, and covers the national registry alone. What it covers besides is the risk no Do Not Call list does: serial TCPA litigators, whose numbers are usually on no list at all, plus the line type and activity of every number so the dead and the undeliverable come out before you dial. For a Florida campaign that means the FDACS list is always a scrub of its own, beside the federal registry and a litigator scrub.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Florida Do Not Call list the same as the national registry?
No. It is a separate list, kept by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) rather than the FTC, under Florida law. The statute does require FDACS to include the Florida numbers on the national registry in its own list (§ 501.059(3)(d)), but the reverse is not true, and FDACS tells businesses that buying the national list does not remove the need to buy Florida's. A number can be on the Florida list and not the national one.
Does the Florida Do Not Call list cover cell phones and texts?
Yes to both. The prohibition in § 501.059(4) covers any "residential, mobile, or telephonic paging device telephone number" on the list, and the statute defines a telephonic sales call as "a telephone call, text message, or voicemail transmission" made to solicit a sale (§ 501.059(1)(j)).
How much does it cost to register?
Nothing. The $10 listing charge and $5 annual renewal were removed from the statute with effect from 1 July 2012 (ch. 2012-67), and the five-year listing term was removed from 1 July 2017 (ch. 2017-85). FDACS says: "It is free to subscribe and the number remains on the list indefinitely." Registration is online, with the phone number and an email address, at FDACS's Do Not Call portal.
What is the penalty for calling a number on the Florida list?
Two kinds. The state can seek a civil penalty in the Class IV category of § 570.971, which is "$10,000 or more" per violation, or FDACS can impose an administrative fine of up to $10,000 (§ 501.059(9)); its rule sets that fine at $5,000 to $10,000 per violation. Separately, the person called can sue for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, up to three times that if the violation was willful or knowing, and the prevailing party recovers attorney fees (§ 501.059(10)-(11)). Before suing over texts, the consumer must first reply STOP and wait 15 days.
Can I call someone on the list if they are already a customer?
Often, yes. A call is not "unsolicited" under § 501.059(1)(k) if it is made at the person's express request, primarily about an existing debt or contract, to a person with a prior or existing business relationship, or by a newspaper publisher. FDACS's rule puts limits on two of those: an express request must be in writing, signed and name the number, and it covers calls for 18 months; a business relationship means a purchase in the preceding 18 months or an inquiry in the preceding three months. Outside those, the list applies.
Does NumberBroom check the Florida Do Not Call list?
No. A business calling Florida numbers has to buy the Florida list from FDACS and scrub against it separately. NumberBroom's federal Do Not Call Registry check covers the national registry only, under your own FTC subscription (SAN), included free on lists of up to 1,000 numbers, and because the Florida list holds numbers the national one does not, it is no substitute. What NumberBroom does besides is remove known TCPA litigators and check every number's line type, carrier and activity -- the checks a Do Not Call list does not cover, since a serial filer's number is usually on no list at all.
- Fla. Stat. § 501.059 -- Telephone solicitation (Florida Senate, 2026)
- Fla. Stat. § 501.616 -- Unlawful acts and practices (Florida Senate, 2026)
- Fla. Stat. § 570.971 -- Administrative fines and penalties (Florida Senate, 2026)
- Fla. Admin. Code ch. 5J-5 -- Telephone solicitation rules (flrules.org)
- FDACS -- Florida Do Not Call (consumers)
- FDACS -- Florida Do Not Call (businesses)
- Laws of Florida ch. 2012-67 -- removed the listing charge
- Laws of Florida ch. 2017-85 -- removed the five-year listing term