Texas's New SMS Law: Bonds, Forms, and What Businesses Must Do Now

The ground has shifted for businesses in Texas that use text messaging to reach customers. The enforcement of House Bill 1928, the "Texas Telephone Solicitation Act," has introduced some of the strictest SMS marketing regulations in the country. This is more than a minor update, it is a fundamental change requiring immediate attention.

For businesses, navigating these rules is not just about avoiding fines, it is about demonstrating trustworthiness. As a leader in marketing technology, Rainmaker Reputation AI is committed to providing the clarity and tools you need to master these changes with confidence.

Deconstructing the New Texas SMS Regulations

This new law goes far beyond the federal TCPA, creating specific obligations for anyone conducting telephone or text message solicitation in Texas. Failure to comply can be costly.

Here are the essential requirements every Texas business must address:

1. The $10,000 Surety Bond: Before sending any marketing text messages, a business must obtain a $10,000 surety bond and file it with the Texas Secretary of State. This bond acts as a financial guarantee that your business will adhere to the law, protecting consumers from unlawful solicitation. This is a non-negotiable prerequisite.

2. Mandatory Registration: Alongside the bond, businesses must register with the Secretary of State by submitting a "Telephone Solicitation Registration" form. This form requires providing basic information about your business and officially declares your intent to comply with state regulations. You can find all the form here

3. Expanded Definition of "Solicitation": The law explicitly includes SMS and MMS messages in its definition of telephone solicitation. There is no gray area, a marketing text is treated the same as an automated call.

4. Strict "Quiet Hours": Automated marketing messages are forbidden before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time zone. This demands a system capable of precise, time-aware scheduling.

5. Express Written Consent: You must secure clear, unambiguous, and standalone consent from consumers before adding them to your SMS marketing list. This consent cannot be hidden in lengthy terms and conditions.

6. Clear Opt-Out on Every Message: Every single marketing text must provide an easy and obvious way for the recipient to opt out, such as replying "STOP".

The High Stakes of Non-Compliance

The Texas law has teeth. Violations can lead to significant fines for each message sent. More importantly, the law empowers consumers to file lawsuits, creating substantial legal and financial risks. Beyond the penalties, violating these rules is a fast way to destroy customer trust, a far more valuable asset.

Rainmaker Reputation AI: Your Compliance and Growth Engine

These new requirements, especially the bond and registration, can feel daunting. This is precisely where a sophisticated technology partner becomes essential. The Rainmaker Reputation AI CRM was engineered to turn these complex obligations into a seamless part of your marketing workflow.

We are your all-in-one solution for compliant, high-performance marketing:

Guidance on Foundational Steps: While we cannot file the bond for you, we guide you through the necessity of these prerequisites, ensuring you start your SMS campaigns on a compliant legal footing from day one.

Automated Compliance Guardrails: Our SMS marketing platform has built-in safeguards. We automatically manage quiet hours based on customer time zones, so you never send a message at the wrong time.

Ironclad Consent Management: We provide the tools to obtain and track express written consent transparently. Our system creates a secure, auditable record of every opt-in, protecting your business.

Effortless Opt-Outs: Every campaign sent through our platform automatically includes the necessary opt-out language and instantly processes unsubscribe requests, keeping you compliant without manual work.

Unified AI-Powered CRM: Our platform does more than just send texts. It centralizes all customer interactions, from reviews to messages to marketing campaigns. This allows you to build genuine relationships, not just run promotions.

The Future of Marketing is Built on a Foundation of Trust

The new Texas SMS law is a clear roadmap for the future of customer engagement. It's aim is to reward businesses that operate with transparency and respect. By meeting these requirements, you are not just avoiding penalties, the hope is the new law encourages businesses to build a loyal audience that values your communication in a way that does not offend the audience or make demands on the audience's time & attention in interactions with the SMS channel.

With Rainmaker Reputation AI, you can confidently meet these new standards. Our technology already deploys the above standards with mandatory permission messaging in forms, mandatory Unsubscribe in SMS messages, and help with our customers to handle the intricate details of compliance. Freeing them to focus on what matters most: growing your business and serving their customers.

Ready to ensure your SMS marketing is fully compliant and more effective than ever? See how Rainmaker Reputation AI can transform your customer communication strategy today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the new Texas sms compliance law only apply to outbound Marketing messages? What about other messages like Scheduling Alerts, sms msgs that are sending content similar to blog content to the customer opted in list? On its face, this law looks like the compliance is for sending sms Marketing msgs.

That is an excellent and critical question. You've hit on the most important nuance of this law: the line between "marketing" and "transactional" messages. It's a distinction that can make or break a business's compliance strategy.

On its face, you are correct. The law is primarily aimed at "telephone solicitations," which inherently means marketing messages. However, the way the law is written and how similar laws (like the TCPA) are interpreted means the answer is not a simple yes or no. It's all about context and content.

Let's break it down, because this is where Rainmaker Reputation AI's expertise really shines.

The Bright Line: Purely Transactional vs. Marketing

The key is whether the message could be interpreted as encouraging a "commercial transaction."

1. Purely Transactional Messages (Generally Exempt):

These are messages that are strictly informational and necessary for the customer's use of a product or service they have already agreed to. They do not contain any promotional language.

*Examples:**

*Scheduling Alerts: "Your appointment with Dr. Smith is confirmed for Tuesday at 3 PM."

*Shipping Notifications: "Your order #12345 has shipped. Track it here: [link]."

*Two-Factor Authentication:** "Your security code is 867530."

*Password Resets: "Here is the link to reset your password."

These types of messages are generally considered exempt from the solicitation rules because their primary purpose is informational, not commercial. The customer is expecting and relying on them.

2. Purely Marketing Messages (Clearly Covered by the Law):

These are messages with a clear commercial purpose, designed to encourage a purchase or promote the brand.

*Examples:

* "Flash Sale! Get 25% off all services this weekend only."

* "Check out our new line of products just for you."

* "Don't forget to use your coupon before it expires!"

These absolutely fall under the Texas law and require the surety bond, registration, express written consent, and adherence to all other rules.

The Gray Area: Where Your Question Lives

Now, let's address your specific example: "SMS messages that are sending content similar to blog content to the customer opted-in list."

This is the dangerous gray area. It's often called "mixed-use" messaging.

If the message is purely informational, like "Here's our new blog post on 5 ways to improve your home's curb appeal: [link]," it might be considered informational.

HOWEVER, if that blog post itself contains marketing, calls to action, or promotions for your services (which most do), then the message sending the link is now considered a gateway to marketing. Regulators and courts often view this as a form of marketing solicitation. The link's destination taints the purpose of the original message.

The Best Practice?

At Rainmaker Reputation AI, we do not monitor our customers best practices, but can only inform them of the evern changing best practice landscape. It is every business' own responsibility to define their standards & consult legal experts in SMS compliance. For those that are intensely risk averse, the is the principle to follow if one wants to meet the strictest interpretation of the new law: If it's not purely transactional, treat it as marketing.

This means if you are sending a link to a blog post, a newsletter, a "helpful tip" that subtly promotes your brand, or anything that isn't a direct, necessary notification about an existing transaction, you should assume it falls under the Texas solicitation law.

Why?

Risk Mitigation: The penalties for being wrong are severe. It is far safer and cheaper to comply to the strictest interpretation than to argue in court that your blog post wasn't really marketing. It's a new law, and surely there will be new use cases brought & tested before judges to interpret the line between promotion of informational content vs a marketing message.

Building Trust: Consumers don't appreciate loopholes. When they give you consent for marketing, they expect transparency. Treating all promotional content with the same high standard of consent builds that trust. Having consent, like a permission based optin process on forms and sms channel, can greatly help you not only avoid compliance risks, but is the BEST practice to treat your customers any way. Mutual respect in the Business Owner - Customer relationship is ALWAYS good business. You wouldn't want your customer sending you a marketing message about his business if you did not ask for it, wouldn't you?

Simplicity: Having one clear, compliant process for all non-transactional messages is easier to manage and eliminates the risk of an employee accidentally sending a "mixed-use" message that violates the law.

So, to give you a direct answer: While the law targets "marketing," the strictest interpretation of the compliance standards would dictate any message that contains promotional content, or links to it, should be treated as a marketing message to ensure the most risk averse among us to be fully compliant with the Texas Telephone Solicitation Act. Purely functional alerts are the only safe exception.

At Rainmaker Reputation AI, we have always encouraged our customers using our CRM to be VERY considerate in using the SMS channel. Only send SMS messages of ANY kind to customers or prospects that have opted in to using the channel. Survey after survey shows customers PREFER using the convenience of the SMS channel over even voice phone communication. Our inclusion of sms capable phone numbers in our CRM allows our customers to connect practically & effectively in a manner their customers appreciate.

It is important as a business owner to never do anything that positions one's brand with a perception of being a nuisance to their customers. A long term beneficial relationship based on mutual respect, and that includes useful timely communication, is crucial to long term success. It is Rainmaker Reputation AI's position that good business is being a good advocate with good content & honest neighborly actions towards your customers. Don't make frivolous demands on their attention, in the SMS channel.

And that means respecting your customer's most precious asset... their time.