The Texas attorney general’s office last week filed complaints against 15 businesses under the state’s own no-call law, marking the first time Texas authorities have filed an enforcement action under the law since it took effect in July 2002.
Texas maintains its own no-call list, with 1 million phone numbers registered, separate from the national registry maintained by the Federal Trade Commission. The businesses are all located in Texas and include siding, timeshare and auto-related companies.
Under the state law, they face $1,000 per violation if found to have called consumers on the Texas DNC list, or $3,000 per call placed in knowing violation of the law.
The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires states to place the numbers of their residents who signed up for the national registry on their state lists, but does not require them to share numbers with the national registry.
Only about 15 states representing about 8.6 million phone numbers have voluntarily agreed to share their lists with the FTC for inclusion in the national registry, though more than half of all states have their own no-call laws.
