Some years ago I sat down to a Sunday dinner at my in-laws’ table, good china out, food about to be had, when my phone lit up with a friendly local number. I answered, because occupational hazard. A pleasant synthetic voice advised me that the factory warranty on a vehicle I had sold years earlier was about to expire and that I should press one. So I pressed one and asked the specialist who came on the line whether his company was registered as a telemarketer, whether he had my prior express written consent, and whether the number on my screen was actually his. He hung up before the third question. My mother-in-law observed, not unreasonably, that I could have simply declined the call.
That call is a compact illustration of everything Pennsylvania is about to outlaw. Placed to a Pennsylvania consumer once Senate Bill 992 takes effect, it would be unlawful several times over: it landed on a Sunday, it used an artificial voice without prior express written consent, and the caller ID was a fiction. The difference is that the consequence would no longer be a hang-up. It would be up to $1,000 per call, and because my in-laws are over 60, $3,000.
On July 12, 2026, the Pennsylvania House and Senate unanimously passed SB 992 and sent it to Governor Josh Shapiro. Once signed, businesses have 90 days to comply. If your company places sales calls, sends promotional texts, uses robocall or ringless voicemail platforms, or hires telemarketers to reach Pennsylvania consumers, the clock is about to start.
Why the Law Changed
The Telemarketer Registration Act of 1996 predates smartphones, SMS marketing, synthetic voice, and ringless voicemail, and telemarketers have spent three decades operating in the gaps. In 2022, then-Attorney General Shapiro settled with an energy company that placed more than 355,000 unlawful calls to consumers on the Do Not Call list. SB 992, sponsored by Senator Michele Brooks (R-50) with input from Attorney General Dave Sunday, is the legislature’s response. It passed every committee and floor vote unanimously. How often do you see any type of legislation pass unanimously in today’s political environment?
What SB 992 Does
- Expanded definition of telephone solicitation. The term now expressly reaches voicemails, ringless voicemails, and text messages. The channels many companies migrated to precisely because the old statute did not cover them are now squarely covered.
- Narrower calling hours and a Sunday ban. No telemarketing calls, texts, or voicemails between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. on weekdays, none at all on Sundays, and restrictions on legal holidays. Suppression must be keyed to the recipient’s location, not your operations center’s time zone.
- Robocalls require prior express written consent. No robocall may be placed to any residential, business, or wireless line without PEWC, absent an emergency or a statutory exemption. Consent must identify the number, disclose clearly that the consumer is agreeing to receive solicitations, state that consent is not a condition of purchase, and be signed, with electronic signatures acceptable. The definition tracks the federal TCPA standard.
- No AI-generated deception or caller ID spoofing. Computer-generated and AI-generated messages may not be used to mislead consumers, and telemarketers may not misidentify their name or spoof their number, including neighbor-spoofing a consumer’s own area code. The bill aligns Pennsylvania with the federal Truth in Caller ID Act.
- Stronger Do Not Call protections. Practices that quietly strip consumers from the Do Not Call list, such as coupon-click schemes, are prohibited. Removal must rest on genuine written consent.
- Liability reaches the company that hired the caller. If your vendor makes unlawful calls on your behalf, your company can face civil penalties too. Vendor diligence, compliance covenants, audit rights, and indemnification move from best practice to necessity.
- Penalties, plus a private right of action. Up to $1,000 per violation, rising to $3,000 where the consumer is 60 or older. Violations are also violations of Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, which carries a private right of action and permits recovery of actual damages or $100, whichever is greater. Expect the plaintiffs’ bar to find that pairing quickly.
The Consent Safe Harbor
The most important provision in SB 992 is the one that protects legitimate businesses. Communications made in reliance on prior express written consent, or on an established business relationship within the past twelve (12) months, are expressly excluded from the definition of telephone solicitation. A business relying on PEWC or an EBR is not a “telemarketer” under the statute, is not required to register with the Attorney General, and is generally not subject to the quiet hours.
The House also adopted an amendment exempting consent-based SMS, transactional notices, and customer service messages from registration, and the final bill codifies uniform opt-out keywords: STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL, and UNSUBSCRIBE. A word of caution, however. A safe harbor is only as good as the evidence behind it. Assume every element of consent will need to be reconstructed, per number and per campaign, years later, and build retention accordingly.
What To Do in the Next 90 Days
- Classify each outbound program against the expanded definition, and document whether PEWC or an EBR takes it outside the statute.
- Audit consent records for every Pennsylvania number. If you cannot produce the record, treat the consent as absent.
- Add Pennsylvania quiet-hour and Sunday suppression rules to every dialer and messaging platform, keyed to the recipient.
- Review telemarketing vendor contracts for compliance covenants, audit rights, insurance, and indemnification, and confirm the vendor can demonstrate compliance rather than merely promise it.
- Confirm Do Not Call scrubbing is current and free of any practice that could be characterized as deceptive removal.
- Honor the codified opt-out keywords across every messaging platform you operate.
- Brief legal, compliance, and the business on the UTPCPL private right of action, which will generate consumer litigation, not merely regulatory attention.
The Bigger Picture
Texas, Oregon, and other states have enacted their own mini-TCPA statutes, and Pennsylvania now joins them. Federal TCPA compliance alone is no longer sufficient for a national calling program. Pennsylvania’s version, notably, was amended to strip a one-to-one consent provision mirroring an FCC rule the Eleventh Circuit had already vacated, which is the single most consequential edit in the file and the reason lead generation remains workable in the Commonwealth. The result targets genuine abuse while preserving the ability to reach customers who asked to hear from you. If your consent file is in order, your vendors are papered, and your dialer knows what day it is in Pennsylvania, you will be fine. If not, the next Sunday dinner interrupted may be an expensive one.
If you want help evaluating your current policies and procedures for compliance with your legal obligations, the Compliance Team at Troutman Amin LLP is available to assist you.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Benjamin Franklin