California telemarketing rules

Telephonic seller registration and bond

California's registration law does not cover every caller. Section 17511.1 defines a telephonic seller by what the call represents or implies, such as free additional items, a prize or gift tied to a purchase, a price below the regular price, an investment opportunity, or an offer to arrange a loan when payment comes before the loan proceeds are disbursed. A telephonic seller registers with the Consumer Protection Section of the Department of Justice at least 10 days before doing business in the state, renews each year, and files an addendum within 10 days of a material change. Section 17511.12 also requires every telephonic seller to maintain a bond from a surety company admitted in California.

California uses the national Do Not Call Registry

The Legislature adopted the California numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry as the California do not call list. A telephone solicitor may not call a number on the current list to offer goods or services, offer consumer credit, seek marketing information for a direct sale, or promote investments, insurance or financial services. The list counts as current only if it came from the Federal Trade Commission no more than three months before the call. Exceptions include calls made at the subscriber's express written agreement or express request, and calls to a subscriber with an established business relationship based on a purchase, rental, lease or financial transaction within the prior 18 months.

Written agreement to call a listed number

The express agreement exception requires an agreement in writing that clearly shows the person authorized calls by or on behalf of a specific party to that California number, and it must carry the person's signature. In a dispute, the telephone solicitor must prove permission by producing the original or a facsimile of the signed document. Consent inside a contract of adhesion does not count. A call is presumed not to be at a subscriber's express request if it comes 30 business days after the subscriber last inquired or consented, or after the subscriber asked for no further calls.

Automatic dialing announcing devices

California regulates any automatic equipment that stores or generates numbers and can play a prerecorded message to the number called. These devices may be used only under a prior agreement in which the person called consented to such calls, or under Section 2874. Section 2874 requires an unrecorded, natural voice announcement first, stating the nature of the call and the name, address and telephone number of the business, and asking whether the person consents to hear the prerecorded message. Since January 1, 2025, the announcement must also say if the prerecorded message uses an artificial voice, meaning a voice generated or significantly altered using artificial intelligence.

Hours for recorded message devices

Section 2872 bars operating an automatic dialing announcing device in California to place a call received by a telephone in the state between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. California time. This hours rule is written for recorded message devices. Live telemarketing calls to consumers remain subject to the federal calling window of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time at the called person's location under the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the FCC's rules.

All party consent to record

Penal Code 632 makes it an offense to intentionally record or eavesdrop on a confidential communication, including one carried on by telephone, without the consent of all parties. A confidential communication is one carried on in circumstances that reasonably show a party wants it confined to the parties, and the definition excludes circumstances in which the parties may reasonably expect the communication may be overheard or recorded. Penal Code 632.7 separately covers intentionally recording a communication between cellular, cordless and landline telephones without the consent of all parties.