Tennessee Do Not Call and text solicitation law
Tenn. Do Not Call Law
Marketing · Communications
Creates Tennessee's Do Not Call Register, run by the Public Utility Commission, and bars telephone and (since July 1, 2023) text message solicitations to residential subscribers who have registered their objection. Solicitors must register and pay an annual fee to access the list, identify themselves at the start of each call or text, and contact people only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
- Where
- Tennessee
- Citation
- Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 65-4-401 to 65-4-410
- Status
- In force
- Last amended
- 2023-07-01
- Enforced by
- Tennessee Public Utility Commission; Tennessee Attorney General at the commission's request
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- The commission may issue cease-and-desist orders and civil penalties up to $2,000 per knowing violation, each solicitation counted separately; the Attorney General may seek injunctions, fees, and investigative costs and join Consumer Protection Act claims.
- Applies to
- Persons and entities making telephone or text message solicitations to residential subscribers in Tennessee (including state government subscribers since 2012)
What a privacy notice must say
- At the start of each call or text, clearly identify the person initiating it and the organization represented.Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-402
Practices it requires
- Do not knowingly make telephone or text solicitations to residential subscribers on the Do Not Call Register.Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-404
- Without the subscriber's permission, call or text only between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time.Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-402
- Do not circumvent caller identification services.Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-403
Registration
- Register with the commission and pay the annual fee to access the Do Not Call Register before soliciting; soliciting listed subscribers while unregistered is a violation.Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-405(d)
Sources
- Official text
- 2023 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 126 (SB 868), extending the law to text messages, Tennessee Secretary of State
- Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 65-4-402, -404, -405 (2025 code text and history, Justia)
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Original 1999 act (ch. 478) not fetched, so effective_date is null. | Content of § 65-4-403 is summarized from its section heading only; defenses (§ 65-4-408) and exemptions in § 65-4-401 were not reviewed.
Research reference, not legal advice.