Texting Texas Prospects: Why the SB 140 Settlement Skips Cold B2B

What SB 140 changed on September 1, 2025#

Texas Senate Bill 140 took effect on September 1, 2025. It rewrote one definition in Chapter 302 of the Business and Commerce Code, and that definition pulled sales texts into the state's telemarketer registration law.

Section 302.001(7) now defines a telephone solicitation as a call or other transmission, including a text or graphic message or an image, that a seller initiates to induce a person to buy, rent, claim or receive an item.

Every quote below comes from the code on statutes.capitol.texas.gov, current through the 2025 second called session, and the enrolled bill. Both were read on 6 Oct 2026.

• Reach: section 302.101(a) covers a solicitation made from a location in Texas or to a purchaser located in Texas. An out-of-state team texting a Dallas prospect is inside the chapter.
• Who counts: a purchaser is a person, and the Code Construction Act, Government Code section 311.005(2), says a person includes a corporation and any other legal entity. Chapter 302 has no consumer-only limit.
• Repeat suits: SB 140 added language to sections 302.003 and 304.005, and a new section 305.055, saying a claimant who has recovered before may recover again without limit.
• Remedies: SB 140 made violations of Chapters 304 and 305 deceptive trade practices (new sections 304.2581 and 305.054). Chapter 302 already carried that link in section 302.303.

What a Texas registration actually demands#

Section 302.101 requires a registration certificate for each business location you solicit from. The statement runs for one year under section 302.104 and has to be renewed with a new fee.

Section 302.102(b) makes everything in the registration statement public information. Plan the filing on the assumption that a competitor will read it, because anyone can.

• Cost: a $200 filing fee (section 302.106) and $10,000 in security, posted as a bond, an irrevocable letter of credit or a certificate of deposit (section 302.107).
• People: the home address, date of birth and driver's license number of each officer, director, owner and manager (section 302.151(11) and (12)), plus quarterly addenda naming every salesperson (section 302.105).
• Scripts: a copy of all sales material you give reps, including scripts, sample introductions and sample closings (section 302.153(a)(2)). For a texting team, the closest match is your message templates.
• Banking: the name and address of each financial institution you use and your account numbers (section 302.151(16)).
• Silence: section 302.203 bars a seller from referring to its own compliance with the chapter when dealing with a purchaser. A text saying you are registered in Texas breaks that rule.

The settlement that exempted opt-in texting#

Ecommerce Marketers Alliance, Inc. v. State of Texas, No. 1:25-cv-1401 (W.D. Tex.), was filed on September 1, 2025. The plaintiffs run opt-in text marketing and argued that registration burdened their commercial speech.

The joint motion of November 6, 2025 records the Attorney General's reading: a call in Chapter 302 means a telephone call as defined in section 304.002(10), which excludes a transmission the customer agreed to receive.

The court dismissed the case without prejudice on November 17, 2025. Both filings are docket entries 26 and 27, read on CourtListener on 6 Oct 2026.

• The motion's key sentence: "businesses which operate consent-based text message marketing campaigns are specifically exempted from Chapter 302."
• Data Privacy + Cybersecurity Insider (December 2025) reported that the Secretary of State's site now tells businesses that text with the consumer's prior consent they need not file the registration statement.
• No court has ruled on the merits. K&L Gates (14 Sep 2026) found no reported contested decision on consent-based texting a year in, and called the Secretary of State's FAQ informational, not binding precedent.
• Chapter 302 text claims are already being filed. K&L Gates cites a 2026 default judgment in the Western District of Texas that granted relief for a call and declined it for texts sent before SB 140 took effect.

Why the settlement stops short of a cold B2B text#

The state's exemption runs through consent. Section 304.002(10) carves out a transmission the customer agreed to receive, and a cold text to a prospect who never opted in has no agreement behind it.

Practitioners read it the same way. Varnum wrote that prospecting, third-party lead lists and texts sent without prior consent remain subject to Chapter 302 (varnumlaw.com, read 6 Oct 2026).

A B2B team texting Texas from a data vendor list is back to the bare statute. And section 302.051 puts the burden of proving any exemption on the person who claims it.

• Opted-in contacts: the settlement's reading covers them, so the job is keeping a record of each opt-in that would hold up if challenged.
• Customers: a separate statutory exemption may cover them (next section), with its own conditions.
• Cold prospects: neither applies by default. Registration, or a specific exemption you can prove, has to come first.

Exemptions a B2B seller can actually test#

Subchapter B of Chapter 302 lists the exits. Most were written for particular industries rather than sales motions, but six deserve a real look before a B2B team registers or drops Texas.

• Public companies: section 302.053(2) exempts a publicly traded corporation registered with the SEC or the State Securities Board, along with its subsidiaries and agents.
• Customers: section 302.058(2) exempts soliciting a former or current customer if you have operated under the same business name for at least two years. Upsell and win-back texts can fit; new logos cannot.
• Meeting-first selling: section 302.059(1) exempts a solicitation that closes no sale, gives no major sales presentation, and arranges a face-to-face presentation at a later meeting. The statute does not say whether a video demo counts.
• Resale or production inputs: section 302.056 exempts a sale where the business buyer intends to resell the item or use it in recycling, reuse, remanufacturing or manufacturing. Software bought for internal use does not match that wording.
• Regulated sellers: insurance licensees selling Insurance Code transactions and supervised financial institutions fall outside the chapter under section 302.053(3) and (4).
• Agencies: section 302.052 says an exemption belongs to the seller. An agency texting for a client leans on the client's exemption, or on section 302.060, which needs three years under one name and 75% of contracts for exempt clients.

Where the Texas no-call list fits, and where it does not#

Chapter 304, the Texas no-call list, reaches less of B2B. Section 304.002(9) limits a telemarketing call to selling consumer goods or services, meaning property normally used for personal, family or household purposes.

Section 304.004(3) also excludes calls between a telemarketer and a business, unless the business has told the telemarketer it does not want them. A business's request to stop carries weight under Texas law.

• The line follows the product. Selling payroll software to a company sits outside Chapter 304; selling home solar to a homeowner who also owns a business does not.
• Section 304.052 bars a telemarketing call to a number more than 60 days after it appears on the Texas no-call list, which includes the Texas portion of the national registry (section 304.051(b)).
• The list is republished on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 (section 304.051(d)), so a fresh edition came out on October 1, 2026.
• Calling hours follow the same consumer line. Section 301.051(b)(2) allows noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on other days, for unsolicited calls to a residential number about consumer goods or services.

Chapter 305 brings the federal TCPA into Texas courts#

Section 305.053 lets a person who receives a communication that violates 47 U.S.C. 227 or its regulations sue the originator in Texas. Damages are the greater of $500 per violation or actual damages.

A knowing or intentional violation raises the cap to $1,500 per violation or three times actual damages. SB 140 added section 305.054, so deceptive trade practice remedies apply on top.

• Reps carry personal exposure: section 302.252 makes knowingly acting as a salesperson for an unregistered seller a Class A misdemeanor, each violation a separate offense.
• Private no-call suits have preconditions. Section 304.257 requires a second violation, notice to the telemarketer, and a verified state complaint within 30 days that goes unanswered for 120 days.

What to set up before the next text to a 214 number#

Texas exposure turns on records. Sort every Texas contact into opted in, customer or cold before a sequence starts, because each bucket answers to a different part of the code.

Blue Reacher catches standard opt-out 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).

Blue Reacher handles the stop side. Registration, exemptions and the read on your own offer stay with you and your counsel.

• Flag Texas area codes such as 214, 469, 972, 713, 281, 832, 512, 210 and 817. An area code shows where a number was issued, so pair it with the account's address before deciding who sits in Texas.
• Store the opt-in record for consented contacts: the source, the wording shown and the timestamp. The settlement's exemption depends on that consent.
• Tag current and former customers, and confirm you have traded under the same name for two years before relying on section 302.058.
• For cold Texas prospects, get counsel's written answer on registration or a named exemption before the first text. Under section 302.103 the certificate issues only after the fee and the $10,000 security arrive.
• Keep Texas business opt-outs on your suppression list, because section 304.004(3) ends the business exclusion once a business says no.

Frequently asked questions