Understanding Florida's mini-TCPA

You will learn 

Learn about Florida laws that impact SMS marketing, including the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA), also known as the Florida “mini-TCPA.”

Key changes 

Effective July 1, 2021, the state of Florida enacted a new law that is essentially a stricter version of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The law, CS/SB 1120, known as Florida’s "mini-TCPA," puts tighter boundaries on who you can send to and when, as well as how many messages a recipient can receive in a certain timeframe. 

Florida’s mini-TCPA introduced several important distinctions from the requirements of the federal TCPA. The following sections provide an overview of the key differences between the 2 laws. 

Longer quiet hours: 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The statute allows calling or texting only between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm in the recipient’s time zone (shortened from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the federal TCPA). Note that Florida crosses two time zones, Eastern and Central.

To adhere to compliance and sending best practices, Klaviyo enables quiet hours for flows automatically, preventing SMS flows from sending before 11 a.m. and after 8 p.m. (using Eastern Time in the US and Canada and Australian Eastern Time in Australia)

Limiting texts to 3 attempts within a rolling 24-hour period 

The law limits marketers to 3 attempts to contact a recipient (via call or text) within a rolling 24-hour period. This applies even if a business calls or texts from different numbers. 

Forbidding the hiding of the caller or sender

The statute prohibits marketers from intentionally hiding their identity or number. 

There has been an increase in claims that all sending numbers should be callable. Thus, if your number can't receive calls, consider forwarding calls to another number. 

Additional preventative measures

Based on the current legal landscape, Klaviyo also recommends that marketers reaching out to Florida residents include a phone number where they can be contacted by telephone call in their outbound messages.

They must also regularly communicate this callable number to customers so that they are reasonably aware of the callable number, and monitor their account for inbound messages of customers attempting to contact them.

Who the mini-TCPA covers

The law presumes that any calls or texts made to a Florida area code are to either:

• A Florida resident
• Someone in Florida at the time

Both groups are covered under this legislation, which potentially increases the pool of potential plaintiffs. 

Further, similar to TCPA, this law gives aggrieved parties a private right to action. A plaintiff who wins their case may: 

• Obtain an injunction against the other party
• Recover their actual money damages or $500 (or $1,500 for willful violations), whichever is higher, plus attorney fees and costs

Best practices for Klaviyo SMS

While we recommend that you consult an attorney to ensure that your text messaging program complies with the Oklahoma mini-TCPA, other SMS laws and regulations, and carrier requirements, there are some general guidelines and best practices you can follow: 

Best practices: 

• Always get express consent, using clear and conspicuous disclosure language anywhere you collect SMS consent. 
• Leave quiet hours for flows on for any non-transactional flow.  
• Do not send before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. (in the recipient’s local time) for any campaign.
• Use Smart Sending to limit how many SMS messages a subscriber can receive within 24 hours.
• Add a call forwarding number for your toll-free number. 
• Follow other SMS best practices. 

Additional resources

• Set up a call forwarding number for your US toll-free number 
• See other SMS compliance basics
• Create disclosure language to use anywhere you gather SMS consent