State Law
The Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act (OTSA)
What is the Oklahoma Telephone Solicitation Act?
Short answerThe OTSA is Oklahoma's telemarketing statute, effective November 1, 2022 and closely modelled on Florida's FTSA. It gives a called party a private right of action to recover the greater of actual damages or $500 per violation, trebled where the violation is willful or knowing. Unlike Florida's, it contains no attorney-fee provision.
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Oklahoma passed its mini-TCPA in 2022, taking effect on November 1, 2022. It is the clearest example of a state copying Florida's template, and the clearest illustration of which part of that template actually generates litigation.
What it does
- Restricts telephone solicitations made using an automated system, on a definition of its own rather than by reference to the federal autodialer standard.
- Requires prior express written consent for calls within its scope.
- Creates a private right of action: greater of actual damages or $500 per violation.
- Permits trebling for willful or knowing violations.
- Applies on top of the federal TCPA, not instead of it.
The one difference that matters
Oklahoma has no attorney-fee provision. Florida's FTSA awards reasonable fees and costs to the prevailing party; the OTSA is silent.
This is worth dwelling on, because it is the single best predictor of where state telemarketing suits get filed. Statutory damages of $500 look identical on paper in both states. But a plaintiff's firm evaluating a individual claim is really evaluating whether the recovery covers the cost of bringing it, and fee-shifting is what makes that arithmetic work at $500. Remove it and most individual claims stop being viable, leaving only class actions -- a far higher bar.
Reading state exposure generally
When you assess a new state statute, check three things in this order: is there a private right of action, are attorney fees recoverable, and only then what the damages figure is. The first two determine whether anyone will sue. The third determines what it costs when they do.
Quick check: what the OTSA changes
Pick an answer to see whether it is right, and why.
What it changes for you
Lower filing risk than Florida does not mean lower obligation. The consent requirement is real, and a class action remains possible. Nothing about the fee analysis makes non-compliance safe -- it makes it less likely to be individually litigated, which is a different thing.
Operationally there is nothing Oklahoma-specific to build. Documented prior express written consent, a suppression list honoured across channels inside the federal 10-business-day window, and litigator screening before each campaign cover this statute the same way they cover the others.
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Frequently asked questions
What are OTSA damages?
A called party may recover the greater of actual damages or $500 per violation, and a court may treble that where the violation was willful or knowing -- so up to $1,500 on the same arithmetic as the federal TCPA and the FTSA.
Why does Oklahoma produce fewer lawsuits than Florida?
Because it does not shift attorney fees. Florida's statute lets a prevailing party recover reasonable fees and costs; Oklahoma's has no equivalent.
That single omission changes the economics. A $500 claim with recoverable fees supports a contingency practice; a $500 claim without them mostly does not, outside a certified class. Same damages, very different filing volume.
Is the OTSA the same as the Florida FTSA?
Structurally very close -- it was modelled on Florida's pre-2023 text, so its automated-system test still reads "selection or dialing", and it writes an 8am–8pm window and a three-calls-in-24-hours cap into the statute itself (§ 775C.4). Florida has the same two limits, but in a different statute, its Telemarketing Act (§ 501.616(6)), not the FTSA. But it is a separate statute with its own text, its own developing case law, and no fee-shifting. Do not assume a point decided under the FTSA transfers.
Does it apply to text messages?
Treat SMS as covered. The Act's own definition of prior express written consent covers sales calls placed by telephone call, text message or voicemail transmission (15 O.S. § 775C.2(3)). If you are running SMS into Oklahoma numbers, run it under the same consent and suppression discipline as voice.