Pennsylvania's Text Law Starts 18 October. The Lead-Form Exemption Is Gone

What Act 47 changes on 18 October#

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 992 on 20 July 2026 as Act 47, the first rewrite of the state's Telemarketer Registration Act since 1996. The act takes effect in 90 days.

Day 90 after 20 July is Sunday 18 October 2026. Most firms we read use that date, while Troutman Pepper Locke's September summary says 19 October. Plan for the 18th.

Texts were the gap in the old act, which regulated a telephone solicitation call. The new definition of telephone solicitation names a telephone call, voicemail, ringless voicemail or text message.

• Source for every statute quote in this post: Act of Jul. 20, 2026, P.L. 532, No. 47, published on palegis.us, read 3 Oct 2026.
• Quiet hours tighten from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. down to 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday is off limits all day (section 5(a)(1)).
• A lead who asked you to contact them is no longer exempt. The exemption now requires prior express written consent with four specific elements (section 2).
• Text opt-outs get seven named words: stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel and unsubscribe (section 5(a)(2)).
• Robocalls, now defined as prerecorded or artificial voice calls or messages sent with an automated dialing system, need prior express written consent on any residential, business or wireless line (section 5(a)(11)).

The lead-form exemption is gone#

Under the old act, a call made in response to an express request of the consumer was not a telephone solicitation at all. A web form that said contact me usually carried a team through.

Act 47 deletes that line. The first exclusion now reads: in response to the prior express written consent of the subscriber. Kelley Drye called it a more prescriptive standard on 13 August 2026.

Speed-to-lead teams feel the change first. A homeowner who asks for a solar quote and gets a text 40 seconds later is now receiving a telephone solicitation, unless the form met the four-part test below.

• Inside the exclusion, the quiet-hour and Sunday rules do not reach the message, because a message sent with prior express written consent is not a telephone solicitation (Troutman Pepper Locke, read 3 Oct 2026).
• Outside the exclusion, a text selling consumer goods or services is a telephone solicitation, and every section 5 rule applies to it.
• The other four exclusions survive: an existing debt, contract, payment or performance; an established business relationship in the past 12 months; 501(c)(3), (5) or (8) and veterans organizations; political candidates and parties.

The four parts of prior express written consent#

Act 47 defines prior express written consent as a written agreement between the called party and the seller that authorizes a telephone solicitation, including a robocall or text message.

Pennsylvania's four elements sit close to the federal TCPA definition, so a form built for federal consent is a fair start. Check it against the state text anyway, one element at a time.

• Element one: the agreement identifies the telephone number to which the person authorizes calls or messages.
• Element two: a clear and conspicuous disclosure that, by signing, the person consents to receive telephone solicitations from the seller, including a robocall or text message.
• Element three: a statement that the consent is not a condition of purchasing property or consumer goods or services.
• Element four: the person's signature. An electronic or digital signature that meets the federal E-SIGN Act counts.
• Troutman Pepper Locke's working rule, read 3 Oct 2026: if you cannot produce a consent record for a Pennsylvania number, treat the consent as absent.

Who is covered: the purchase decides, not the phone#

Every rule above attaches to a telephone solicitation, and that term means selling consumer goods or services. Act 47 defines those as property or services used for personal, family or household purposes.

Pennsylvania's text names residential, business and wireless subscribers alike, so the type of line does not settle coverage. What you sell, and for whose use, is the test.

Act 47 also adds the rental of, or investment in, property, goods or services to the definition. Rental offers and investment pitches to individuals are now plainly inside it.

• Selling software, staffing or services to a company for business use sits outside the consumer goods definition on the plain text, even when you text the owner's personal mobile.
• Selling a roof, a solar system, a home or a personal insurance policy to a person sits inside it, even when the number on file is a business line.
• Sole proprietors are the grey zone. A contractor buying a truck may be buying for the business or for the household, and the statute does not draw that line for you. Get counsel's read on your offer.
• Maryland's 2023 law exempts business-to-business sales in so many words. Pennsylvania reaches a similar place through the definition, which makes the purpose of the purchase the fact to record.

Quiet hours: 9 to 7, never Sunday, never a holiday#

Section 5(a)(1) bans initiating a telephone solicitation on a Sunday, after 7 p.m. or before 9 a.m. Section 5(a)(10) separately bans one on a legal holiday.

Pennsylvania's statute protects subscribers in the state and does not say whose clock counts. Pennsylvania runs on Eastern time, and an area code alone does not tell you where a person lives.

• Two weekday hours disappear, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., which is when many teams send the after-work follow-up. Move that step to the next morning for Pennsylvania contacts without written consent.
• Saturday stays open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Act 47 does not list the holidays. Load the Pennsylvania state holiday calendar into your scheduler before Thanksgiving rather than relying on a rep to remember.

Registration exemptions do not excuse the conduct rules#

Section 3 requires a telemarketer to register with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General at least 30 days before offering consumer goods or services for sale through any medium.

Act 47 moves the exemptions into a new subsection 3(b.1), titled exemptions from registration. Nothing in that list exempts anyone from the prohibited acts in section 5.

A licensed real estate agent or insurance producer acting within the license skips registration under paragraph (5), and still cannot send a solicitation text at 8 p.m. or on a Sunday without written consent.

• New exemption (13): a person or business not engaged in telemarketing because its calls or messages do not meet the definition of telephone solicitation. Written consent from every recipient effectively qualifies you (Troutman Pepper Locke, read 3 Oct 2026).
• Business-to-business exemption (4): the seller has operated three years under the same name, and at least 50% of its dollar volume is repeat sales to existing businesses.
• Repeat-customer exemption (7): soliciting people who previously bought from a business that has operated three years under the same name.
• Registration runs 30 days ahead of selling. A team that needs to register and starts on 3 October is still inside that runway on 18 October, so the conversation with counsel belongs in this week.

Opt-outs: the same seven words the FCC chose#

Section 5(a)(2) lets a person stop solicitation texts by replying stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe. The FCC's adopted order, FCC 26-67, names the same seven words.

One suppression routine can therefore serve both rules. Pennsylvania's bar covers solicitations made by or on behalf of the seller, so an opt-out given to your agency binds your brand too.

• Safe harbor, section 5(a)(2)(i) to (iv): written opt-out procedures, trained personnel, a maintained and recorded list of people who may not be contacted, and a later message that resulted from error.
• All four parts have to be true. The written procedure is the part most small teams have never put on paper.
• Penalties: civil penalties of up to $1,000 per call or text, rising to $3,000 when the recipient is 60 or older (Greenspoon Marder, read 3 Oct 2026).
• A violation of the act is also a violation of Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, which carries a private right of action for actual damages or $100, whichever is greater (Troutman Pepper Locke, read 3 Oct 2026).

What to change before 18 October#

Start with the consent record, because it controls everything else. A Pennsylvania lead with four-part signed consent sits outside the quiet hours and the Sunday ban, and a lead without it sits inside both.

Next, set the schedule and the opt-out handling. Then write the procedure down, so the safe harbor is there if a message slips through.

• Audit every lead form that feeds texting against the four elements. Add the not-a-condition-of-purchase line and the solicitation disclosure if either is missing.
• Tag Pennsylvania contacts in the CRM by address rather than area code, and record the consent basis on the contact: written consent, a purchase in the past 12 months, or none.
• In Blue Reacher, the default campaign send window is 09:00 to 20:00 in the contact's local time, Monday to Friday, and you set your own per campaign. For Pennsylvania contacts without written consent, end the window at 19:00.
• Blue Reacher catches all seven words and plain-language requests, suppresses the contact on every line within seconds, and logs each event in an exportable audit trail (bluereacher.com/features/opt-out-handling).
• Write the opt-out procedure as a one-page document, have every rep confirm they read it, and keep the date. That page is half of the safe harbor.
• Blue Reacher handles the stop side. The consent side, and the call on whether your offer is a consumer sale, stays with you and your counsel.

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