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Today, commercial robo-calls ( www.robocalling.com )  are almost completely illegal, but emergency notification, political robo-calls and non-profit voice broadcasting are largely ignored by federal law because of free speech and safety concerns. For example, the federal "Do Not Call" list does not apply to calls made on behalf of political candidates. Due to the low prices of robo-calls, this opens up the political process to individuals who do not have the resources to purchase expensive television advertising.

Unfortunately for Winning Calls and our customers, the laws on robocalling technology vary from state to state. Some are upheld by the federal courts despite their conflict with the First Amendment. We require all customers to sign a disclaimer stating that they are conducting their campaign according to the law.

At a minimum, federal rules from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 require a disclosure of who is making the call at the start of the call, and during the call, their phone number or address. In most cases, the TCPA also prohibits robocalls to emergency numbers, hospitals, and cellular phones, except when the recipient consented previously or the call is made for emergency purposes.

Several state laws require disclosure of who is paying for the call. If a solicitation for funds is involved, then you must make clear if you are authorized by the campaign to make such an appeal. This is similar to -- but not the same as -- the "approved by" messages at the end of political television advertisements.

And some states are now banning political robocalls altogether. We've compiled a list of state laws here to make it easier for everyone to know what the rules are. The list was compiled by searching each of the states' laws for Get Out The Vote (GOTV) related keywords like "political advertising", "robo-calls", "prerecorded", "auto calls", "automated call", "recorded messages", "voice broadcasting" and the ubiquitous legalese "automatic dialing-announcing device" (ADAD). In addition, the election codes of each state were reviewed for similar terms and campaign disclosure requirements. In some cases, pending legislation concerning political robo-call regulation was obtained during wider web searches.

Please note that this is an informational guide to the current state laws as of 2007 and should not take the place of advice from a competent attorney. VoteReminder provides voice broadcasting services and is not a legal referral or reference service.  VoteReminder.com makes no warranty, expressed or implied, of the accuracy of the information provided below.

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

• None found.

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• None found.

• 5-63-204. Automated telephone solicitation. (Specifically forbids automated political calls.)

• BILL NUMBER: AB 2393. CHAPTERED 09/29/06. (Pending regulation of "automatic dialing-announcing devices" some time before 2008.)

• None found.

• Chapter 155 Sec. 9-621. Political advertising. (Candidate must speak their name.)

• None found.

• None found. (Site extremely difficult to navigate.)

• Title IX. 106.147 Telephone solicitation; disclosure requirements; prohibitions; exemptions; penalties. (Must include "paid for by ______".)
• Title IX. 106.1475 Telephone solicitation; registered agent requirements; penalty. (Registration with the state.)

• None found.

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• None found.

• IC 24-5-14-5. Restrictions on use of automatic dialing-announcing device.

• None found.

• 325E.27 USE OF PRERECORDED OR SYNTHESIZED VOICE MESSAGES.

• None found.

• 45-8-216. Unlawful automated telephone solicitation

• 359-E:7 XI e. Definition of "Telemarketing sales call"

• 51-28 TELEPHONE SOLICITATIONS (PDF)

• 24.2-959. Requirements for campaign telephone calls sponsored by a candidate or candidate campaign committee.

• 6-6-104. Telephone solicitation

Pending further review.

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