TCPA calling hours by state (2026): the 8am–9pm rule and stricter states

The federal rule: 8am–9pm recipient-local

Under the TCPA (47 CFR §64.1200(c)(1)), telephone solicitations to residential and wireless numbers are permitted only between 8:00am and 9:00pm at the called party's location. The window is keyed to the recipient's timezone, not the caller's — a business in California calling a New York number must stop at 9:00pm Eastern, which is 6:00pm Pacific. AI and prerecorded-voice marketing calls are telephone solicitations like any other.

The rule covers telephone solicitations only. The federal definition excludes calls to someone who gave prior express invitation or permission, someone you have an established business relationship with, and calls by tax-exempt nonprofits — which is exactly where the 2026 court decisions below come in.

States that are stricter than federal

Checked against the statutes on September 13, 2026. State telemarketing laws change often and exemptions (B2B, existing customers) differ state to state. This table is a starting point, not legal advice — confirm the current rule for each state you call.

Pennsylvania changes on October 18, 2026

Pennsylvania's Act 47 of 2026 (SB 992), signed July 20, 2026, is the biggest calling-hours change in years. From October 18, 2026 telemarketers may not start a telephone solicitation to a Pennsylvania number before 9:00am, after 7:00pm, or at any time on a Sunday — down from the federal 8am–9pm. The law also brings text messages under the statute, lists the reply words that must count as an opt-out, and requires prior express written consent for robocalls. If you call or text Pennsylvania contacts, the window needs to change before that date.

2025–2026: the 'quiet hours' lawsuit wave, and what the courts said

Starting in late 2024, a wave of TCPA class actions targeted marketing texts sent outside the 8am–9pm local window; by November 2025 industry groups counted roughly 480 suits and demand letters. An industry petition asked the FCC to confirm that consent takes a message outside the quiet-hours rule. As of September 2026 the FCC has not ruled on it.

The courts have started answering instead, and they do not agree yet. In King v. Bon Charge (D. Del., April 30, 2026), the court dismissed a quiet-hours claim because a consumer who texted a keyword to subscribe had given prior express invitation or permission, so the messages were not telephone solicitations at all. In Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services (7th Cir., July 14, 2026), the court held that the private right of action in §227(c)(5) does not cover text messages, which conflicts with the Ninth Circuit's reading of a different TCPA section in Howard v. Republican National Committee. Neither decision binds courts elsewhere, and state laws like Pennsylvania's and Oregon's cover texts on their own terms. The defensible posture has not changed: keep enforcing recipient-local quiet hours on every marketing call and text, consented or not.

What does and doesn't fall under calling hours

• Restricted: outbound marketing and lead/solicitation calls and texts to consumers — these must obey the recipient-local window and any stricter state rule.
• Not restricted the same way: inbound calls a person places to you, and purely transactional messages they requested (an appointment confirmation, an order update).
• Operational B2B: dispatch and driver/broker logistics messaging is operational, not consumer solicitation, and is generally not bound by solicitation quiet-hours — though STOP/opt-out must still be honored.

How to enforce calling hours correctly

• Determine each contact's timezone and state from their number or address, and evaluate the window in their local time, not yours.
• Apply the stricter of the federal rule and any state rule that applies to that contact.
• Restrict only marketing/lead outbound — don't hobble inbound answering or operational dispatch.
• Honor STOP/opt-out and DNC on every channel, and keep an audit trail of what was sent when.

How Lead Friendly enforces it

Lead Friendly checks calling hours at the gate before any call or text leaves the platform, in the contact's local time zone (inferred from their number). Calls default to the federal 8am–9pm and texts to 8am–8pm, and Sunday calls stay off unless you turn them on. A built-in state overlay then applies the stricter rules of 18 states to calls and marketing texts automatically, each tied to its statute: later starts, earlier cutoffs, Sunday and holiday bans, and daily caps. That covers Florida's and Oklahoma's 8:00pm cutoff and three-in-24-hours cap, Texas's noon start on Sundays, and Pennsylvania's 9:00am–7:00pm with no Sundays from October 18, 2026. Automated calls and texts outside the window are not sent; a person dialing by hand gets a warning and must confirm an override, which is logged. Only consumer lead and marketing outbound is gated; inbound answering and operational dispatch to drivers and brokers run unrestricted.