Oregon’s Telephone Solicitation Law Now Covers Marketing Texts
Marketing texts now count as telephone solicitations under Oregon law. House Bill 3865 took effect January 1, 2026, and it does more than add texts. Sales calls and texts to Oregon parties must stop at 8 p.m., and no more than three may go to one party in 24 hours unless the caller has an established business relationship. The private remedy runs through Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act, which requires a loss of money or property, and that requirement is where most defenses start.
What did Oregon change in 2026?
The definition and the hours. Under the amended ORS 646.561, a telephone solicitation is “a solicitation for the purpose of encouraging a party to purchase real estate, goods or services, or to make a donation,” made by “A call on a telephone or telephone line” or by “A text message.” Before the amendment, the definition covered solicitations made by telephone and didn’t mention texts, which left them open to argument.
Chapter 580 also rewrote the rules in ORS 646.563. A person engages in an unlawful practice if it “initiates a telephone solicitation outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or initiates a solicitation more than three separate times to a party within a 24-hour period, unless the person has an established business relationship with the party.” The session law states that it was approved by the Governor on July 24, 2025, and lists an “Effective date January 1, 2026.”
The established business relationship now has a definition with a clock. Under ORS 646.561, it “means a previous transaction or series of transactions between a caller and a party that occurred within the 18 months that preceded a call.” That’s a purchase-based test. An inquiry alone doesn’t create one.
How does Oregon’s 8 p.m. cutoff compare with federal law?
It’s an hour earlier. The FCC’s 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). A campaign scheduled to the federal window can send Oregon messages between 8 and 9 p.m. that the federal rule allows and the Oregon rule doesn’t.
Oregon gives senders a way to decide who is in Oregon. The amended ORS 646.563(2) provides that “a person may rely on the area code of a telephone number for a mobile telephone to determine whether the telephone number is for a party located in this state.” That’s a real safe harbor. A company that applies the Oregon window to all four Oregon area codes has a documented basis for its scheduling, even if a particular customer has moved.
The three-per-day cap is the provision that catches automated programs. Abandoned-cart flows, appointment nudges that double as promotions, and retry logic that resends a failed message can each push a single number past three solicitations in 24 hours. The cap doesn’t apply where there’s an established business relationship, so the company’s purchase records become the first exhibit.
What must a caller do when someone says stop?
Stop calling and texting that number. Under ORS 646.563(1)(a), it’s unlawful if “the called or texted party states a desire not to be called or texted again and the person making the telephone solicitation makes a subsequent telephone solicitation of the called or texted party at that number.” The statute doesn’t list stop words, and it doesn’t give a grace period.
The same subsection bars a person who “misrepresents or falsifies” the identity of the caller, or of “another person on behalf of which the person makes the telephone solicitation,” or “The purpose of the telephone solicitation.” For a text program, that means the sender’s brand name should appear in the message itself, not only in a short code lookup.
Oregon’s Do Not Call rule is separate. ORS 646.569 bars telephone solicitation of a party at a number on the list “Maintained as part of the federal registry designated under ORS 646.572.” It also reaches a person who “knows or consciously avoids knowing” about another’s violation and “nonetheless provides substantial assistance or support for the violation.” That language matters for platforms and lead sellers that support another company’s campaigns.
What rules apply to automated dialing and texting devices?
A second set of rules in chapter 646A. Chapter 580 amended ORS 646A.370 so an “Automatic dialing and announcing device” is one that “selects and dials telephone numbers and that, working alone or in conjunction with a person or another device, disseminates a prerecorded or synthesized voice or text message to the telephone number that the device calls.”
Under ORS 646A.372, a caller using such a device may call a subscriber “only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and may not call the subscriber more than three times in 24 hours.” Exceptions cover callers with an established business relationship, debt buyers and callers subject to the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, public safety agencies, schools contacting their own students and families, and callers “responding directly to a message received from a subscriber.” A violation is an unlawful trade practice, and ORS 646A.376 caps the civil penalty for a violation at $5,000.
Who can sue under Oregon’s law, and for what?
A person who lost money or property. ORS 646.608 lists violations of ORS 646.563 and 646.569 as unlawful trade practices. The private action is in ORS 646.638(1): a person that suffers “an ascertainable loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of” a “willful use or employment of a method, act or practice declared unlawful under ORS 646.608, may bring an individual action in an appropriate court to recover actual damages or statutory damages of $200, whichever is greater.”
Two conditions in that sentence do a lot of work. The plaintiff needs an ascertainable loss, and the violation must be willful. A person who received an extra text after 8 p.m. may struggle to show a loss of money or property from it. That’s a stronger defensive position than businesses face under statutes that award damages per message with no loss requirement, and it’s the first point to raise in an Oregon case.
Fees cut mostly one way. The same section lets a court award fees to a prevailing plaintiff, while a prevailing defendant gets fees “only if the court finds that an objectively reasonable basis for bringing the action or asserting the ground for appeal did not exist.” The federal TCPA claim for the same messages, under 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5), has no loss requirement, so an Oregon complaint will often lead with the federal count.
| Rule | Oregon provision | Federal counterpart | Where the defense starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texts are solicitations | ORS 646.561 (since Jan. 1, 2026) | Disputed for Do Not Call claims | Whether the message was a solicitation |
| Hours | 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Area code safe harbor and send logs |
| Frequency | No more than three in 24 hours | No federal cap | Established business relationship within 18 months |
| Stop request | No further solicitation at that number | Opt-out rules in 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 | Opt-out log and timing |
| Private remedy | Actual damages or $200, with ascertainable loss and willfulness | $500 per violation, more if willful or knowing | Proof of loss |
How should a national texting program adjust for Oregon?
Treat Oregon area codes as their own schedule. The simplest compliant setting is an 8 p.m. local cutoff for every Oregon mobile area code, applied at send time rather than at campaign launch.
Then count. Build a per-number counter that blocks a fourth solicitation in any rolling 24-hour window unless the number belongs to a customer with a purchase in the last 18 months. Transactional messages, like order confirmations, aren’t solicitations, but a message that mixes a receipt with a promotion is a risk worth avoiding.
Last, document the exceptions. The established business relationship, the direct-response exception, and the area code safe harbor are only as good as the records that prove them. For comparison with another state’s text rules, see the earlier post on Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act.
What to pull when an Oregon claim arrives
- Preserve the send logs, platform data, and consent records for the claimant’s number, with each message’s local send time.
- Export the stop requests and suppression entries for the number, with the date each was received and applied.
- Pull the National Do Not Call Registry scrub records and the registry version dates for the campaign.
- Collect the message templates, vendor contracts, and any records of the customer’s purchases in the 18 months before each message.
- Hold off on answering a demand letter or contacting the claimant until a lawyer has reviewed the file.
Readers can find more on how these claims proceed on the firm’s TCPA litigation defense page.
Questions businesses ask about Oregon’s solicitation law
When did Oregon’s text message rules take effect?
The session law lists an effective date of January 1, 2026. Messages sent before that date are governed by the earlier version of the statute, which defined a solicitation as one made by telephone and didn’t mention texts. A claim that mixes messages from both periods should be split by date.
Does the three-message limit apply to existing customers?
Not if the company has an established business relationship, meaning a transaction with the party within the 18 months before the message. A prospect who only filled out a form doesn’t qualify. Keep purchase dates where the texting system can check them.
Can a company rely on area codes to decide who is in Oregon?
Yes, for mobile numbers. The statute lets a person rely on a mobile number’s area code to decide whether the party is in Oregon. A customer with an Oregon address and an out-of-state area code isn’t treated as an Oregon party under that rule.
Can a consumer sue for a single late-night text?
Only with an ascertainable loss of money or property and a willful violation. Damages are actual damages or $200, whichever is greater. Those conditions make Oregon claims harder to bring than federal TCPA claims, which is why they usually appear as add-ons to a federal count.
If your company is defending an Oregon texting claim
If your company has been sued under Oregon’s telephone solicitation law, the send-time logs and the purchase history for the number usually decide how much of the claim survives. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents businesses defending TCPA lawsuits and class actions through its business litigation practice, including claims involving late-evening marketing texts. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The Oregon statutes are ORS chapter 646 (sections 646.561, 646.563, 646.569, 646.608, and 646.638) and ORS chapter 646A (sections 646A.370, 646A.372, and 646A.376), with the amending act, Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 580. The federal sources are 47 U.S.C. § 227 and 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200.
This post is general information about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related laws as of June 3, 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.