What Happened:
Texas Attorney General agreed that Senate Bill 140's registration requirements don't apply to companies sending marketing texts with valid consent, following a lawsuit by the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance, Postscript, and Flux Footwear that challenged the law's implementation.
Marketing platforms including Attentive, Klaviyo, and Postscript had urged brands to register with the State of Texas "out of an abundance of caution" before the settlement, with some companies paying registration fees and implementing Texas-specific quiet hours restrictions that limited campaign sends to 12 PM-8 PM on weekdays.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult qualified counsel for guidance specific to your situation.
Our Take:
SB 140 originated from a consumer-protection push aimed at curbing unwanted robocalls and spam SMS. When the bill expanded the definition of “telephone solicitation” to include text messages, it pulled brands with an SMS program into the same legal bucket as telemarketers.
But recently, the Ecommerce Innovation Alliance (EIA), alongside Postscript and Flux Footwear, reached a settlement with the State of Texas that clarifies the law does not apply to businesses sending text messages with prior, affirmative consent.
For lifecycle teams, this is good news, but still not a green light to go on autopilot. The settlement clarifies state registration shouldn’t apply when you only send to subscribers who opted in. That reduces exposure to per-message penalties, but two realities persist:
Private actions are still possible. Even with friendlier state posture, plaintiffs’ firms can probe consent defects (e.g., missing disclosures, unclear opt-outs, lead-gen sources).
Quiet-hours rules and platform safeguards remain. Legal windows are generally no promotional texts 9:00 p.m.–9:00 a.m. (Mon–Sat) and only noon–9:00 p.m. on Sundays (local time). Some platforms recommend even tighter windows to be safe during rollout. If you follow a vendor’s stricter defaults, document why (risk reduction).
This is a stabilizing outcome for SMS, and we’ll keep you updated as the regulatory picture evolves.