Nine in the morning is the earliest an autodialer can place a call in Illinois, an hour later than the federal rule allows. That limit comes from the Illinois Automatic Telephone Dialers Act, which sits beside a second statute, the Telephone Solicitations Act, covering live sales calls. The two laws set different hours and consent rules, and the autodialer law adds $500 in statutory damages per violation. A business calling Illinois numbers from a federal playbook can be out of step with both, though the exemptions often narrow the exposure.
What are Illinois’s two calling statutes?
Illinois splits telemarketing by method. The Automatic Telephone Dialers Act, 815 ILCS 305, governs machines that dial stored numbers and play a recorded message. It defines an autodialer as a device “capable of storing telephone numbers which is programmed to sequentially or randomly access the stored telephone numbers in order to automatically connect a telephone with a recorded message.” The same section defines a recorded message as “any taped communication soliciting the sale of goods or services without live voice interaction.”
The Telephone Solicitations Act, 815 ILCS 413, covers the human side. It defines a telephone solicitation as “any communication through the use of a telephone by live operators for soliciting the sale of goods or services.” The two laws are written to avoid overlap: section 413/20 states that the solicitation statute’s provisions “shall not apply to telephone calls made by an autodialer,” apart from its caller ID rule.
That split matters for the first question in any Illinois claim, which is what kind of call it was. A prerecorded sales pitch falls under the autodialer law. A live agent’s sales call falls under the solicitation law. A call that starts with a live agent and then plays a recording can raise arguments under both, and the call recordings are usually the best evidence of which it was.
Neither statute’s text mentions text messages. Both definitions are built around recorded voice messages and live operators, which is a meaningful difference from newer state laws, like Florida’s and Texas’s, that expressly reach texts. A text-message claim under either Illinois statute starts with that definitional problem, and a defendant should press it.
What hours do Illinois’s statutes allow?
They’re stricter than federal law at the start of the day. Under 815 ILCS 305/15(a), “No person shall operate an autodialer in this State to place a telephone call during the hours between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.” For live sales calls, section 413/15(a) provides that “No person shall solicit the sale of goods or services in this State by placing a telephone call during the hours between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.”
The federal rule bars telephone solicitations “before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party’s location),” under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1). So a live agent calling Illinois at 8:15 a.m. is inside both windows, but a prerecorded campaign launched at the same time isn’t inside the Illinois autodialer window. Dialers that schedule campaigns by a single national start time are where this goes wrong.
What must a live sales caller say?
The live-operator rules are specific. Section 413/15(b) requires the operator to “immediately state his or her name, the name of the business or organization being represented, and the purpose of the call” and to “inquire at the beginning of the call whether the person called consents to the solicitation.”
If the person asks to be taken off the list, the same subsection requires the operator to “refrain from calling that person again and take all steps necessary to have that person’s name and telephone number removed from the contact records of the business or organization.” There’s a useful safe harbor in the next sentence: “Compliance with Section 310.4(b) of the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule shall constitute compliance with this subsection (b)(3) of this Section.” A company that already runs a Telemarketing Sales Rule do-not-call program can point to it.
The consent question at the start of the call is the provision most scripts miss. Federal rules require identification but don’t require a live agent to ask permission to continue. Section 413/25(b) makes it a violation “to continue with a solicitation placed by a live operator without the consent of the called party.” An Illinois script should ask the question in plain words and move on only after a yes.
What does the autodialer statute require?
Consent before the recording plays. Section 305/30(b) states: “It is a violation of this Act to play a prerecorded message placed by an autodialer without the consent of the called party.” The statute doesn’t define the consent or say how it must be documented, which leaves room to argue about what counts.
The method rules in section 305/15 add three more limits. Autodialers “shall disconnect within 30 seconds after termination of the call by the subscriber or the autodialer.” An autodialer “shall not be used to dial numbers determined by successively increasing or decreasing integers.” And it “may not be operated in a manner that impedes the function of any caller ID” when the caller’s equipment can display its number.
Recordkeeping is mandatory for commercial campaigns. Under section 305/22, “A person who operates an autodialer to communicate a commercial message shall maintain a list of all telephone numbers called” and “shall maintain records to sufficiently document any exemption claimed under Section 20 of this Act.” That second sentence is the one to build around, because an undocumented exemption is hard to prove.
Which calls are exempt?
Several common categories. Under 815 ILCS 305/20(a), the autodialer law doesn’t apply to “calls made in response to an express request of the person called” or to “calls made to any person with whom the telephone solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship.” It also exempts calls “placed on behalf of any political, charitable, public opinion polling, research survey, or radio or television broadcast rating organization.” The caller ID rule still applies to every exempt call.
The business relationship exemption is broad on its face. The statute doesn’t define the phrase or set a time limit, unlike the federal established business relationship rule. A company calling its own customers with prerecorded messages has a strong Illinois argument, though federal law still controls whether the prerecorded call needed consent under the TCPA.
The solicitation law exempts whole industries. Section 413/10 states that the Act doesn’t apply “to any bank, trust company, savings and loan association, credit union, licensee under the Consumer Installment Loan Act, licensed insurer, licensee under the Real Estate License Act of 2000, or any affiliate, subsidiary, employee, or agent of any such entities.” Telecommunications carriers are also excluded, and section 413/20 carves out registered securities dealers and salespeople acting within their registration. Insurance agencies and real estate brokerages calling Illinois numbers should check whether they fall within that list before assuming the live-call rules apply.
What can a plaintiff recover?
Trebled actual damages, fees, and, under the autodialer law, statutory damages. Section 305/30(c) lets “Any customer injured by a violation of this Act” sue, and “Judgment may be entered for 3 times the amount at which the actual damages are assessed, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees.” Subsection (c-5) adds that “a consumer may obtain statutory damages in the amount of $500 per violation.”
The solicitation law has the same treble-damages and fee provision in section 413/25(d) but no statutory damages figure. For a live sales call, actual damages are often hard to prove, which limits the exposure. Federal claims run alongside: 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) separately allows “an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater.” Both Illinois statutes make violations an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, so the Attorney General can enforce them too.
| Issue | Autodialer Act (815 ILCS 305) | Telephone Solicitations Act (815 ILCS 413) | Where the defense starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covered calls | Recorded sales messages by autodialer | Live-operator sales calls | Which kind of call it was |
| Hours | No calls 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. | No calls 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. | Recipient’s local time in the logs |
| Consent | Needed before the recording plays | Asked at the start of the call | The script and the recording |
| Exemptions | Express request, business relationship, nonprofit and polling calls | Banks, insurers, real estate licensees, carriers, securities dealers | Proof of the exemption |
| Private damages | Treble actual damages, fees, $500 statutory per violation | Treble actual damages and fees | Proof of injury |
How should a national caller adjust for Illinois?
Start with the dialer’s clock. Set Illinois numbers to a 9 a.m. start for any prerecorded campaign, and keep 8 a.m. for live agents only if the campaign has no recorded component. A call that connects to a live agent and then transfers to a recording should follow the stricter window.
Then fix the script. The Illinois consent question is short, and it costs a few seconds per call. Leaving it out turns every live sales call into a potential violation of section 413/25(b), and those claims often come bundled with federal Do Not Call counts.
Last, keep the records section 305/22 requires even if no claim is pending. A list of numbers called and the evidence of each exemption is what lets a business win an early motion instead of litigating the consent question for a year. For background on how a parallel state statute treats texts, see the earlier posts on the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act and Texas SB 140.
What to pull when an Illinois calling claim arrives
- Put a litigation hold on the dialer logs, call recordings, and consent records for the claimant’s number, with the recipient’s time zone for each call.
- Pull the opt-out requests and the internal do-not-call entries for the number, with dates, and the Telemarketing Sales Rule procedures the company follows.
- Pull the National Do Not Call Registry scrub records for the campaign and the dates of the registry version used.
- Collect the scripts, the recorded message files, and the vendor contracts for any third party that placed the calls.
- Have a lawyer review the file before anyone answers a demand letter, calls the claimant, or offers money.
The firm’s California TCPA defense page explains how federal and state calling claims proceed together.
Questions businesses ask about Illinois calling laws
Do Illinois’s calling statutes apply to text messages?
Neither statute mentions texts. The autodialer law is built around recorded messages, and the solicitation law covers calls by live operators. A plaintiff pleading a text-message claim under either one has to fit texts into those definitions, which gives a defendant a real argument at the pleading stage. The federal TCPA still applies to the same texts.
Does an existing customer relationship protect prerecorded calls?
Under the Illinois autodialer law, calls to a person “with whom the telephone solicitor has a prior or existing business relationship” are exempt. That exemption doesn’t answer the federal question. Prerecorded telemarketing calls still need consent under the TCPA, so the Illinois exemption narrows only the state-law exposure.
Is a bank or insurer subject to the live-call rules?
The Telephone Solicitations Act excludes banks, credit unions, licensed insurers, real estate licensees, and their affiliates and agents. A company in one of those groups isn’t bound by the Act’s hours or script rules for live calls, though federal hours and Do Not Call rules still apply.
What does an Illinois autodialer violation cost?
A consumer may recover three times actual damages plus costs and reasonable attorney fees. The statute adds $500 in statutory damages per violation. In a class case, the statutory figure drives the exposure, so the number of calls and the proof of consent matter most.
Defending Illinois calling claims
If your company has been sued under Illinois’s autodialer or telephone solicitation law, the type of call and the recipient’s local time usually decide the case. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents businesses defending TCPA lawsuits and class actions through its business litigation practice, including claims involving prerecorded sales calls and state calling-hour rules. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The Illinois statutes are 815 ILCS 305/5, 305/15, 305/20, 305/22, 305/30, 815 ILCS 413/5, 413/10, 413/15, 413/20, and 413/25. The federal rule is 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200.
This post is general information about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related laws as of June 2, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Courts and the FCC change the rules in this area often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.