Effective September 1, 2025, Texas Senate Bill 140 (SB 140) expands the state’s “telephone solicitation” laws to explicitly include SMS, MMS, image, and graphic messages, significantly increasing regulatory and legal requirements for businesses that send marketing texts to Texas residents—or operate out of Texas themselves.
The new law applies regardless of your location—if you send marketing messages to Texas residents, SB 140 applies. Depending on your circumstances, you may need to register, post a bond, and adhere to quiet-hour and disclosure rules.
The law also covers messages sent from Texas. A practice located in Texas that sends marketing texts to recipients in other states may be affected too.
Update on registration: The Texas Secretary of State currently states that, based on the position of the Texas Attorney General and Secretary of State and an agreement reached in ongoing litigation, a business sending text messages with the consumer's prior consent is not required to complete the Telephone Solicitation Registration Statement under Chapter 302. Review the current Texas Secretary of State guidance and talk with your attorney to confirm how this applies to your practice.
Exemptions are narrowly tailored and include:
Current or former customers (if under the same business name for at least 2 years)
Brick-and-mortar retailers (same name for 2+ years; majority of sales in person)
Certain publicly traded companies and their subsidiaries
Financial institutions, educational institutions, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and businesses selling food
Exemptions are fact-specific. Don't assume one applies based only on your industry or your relationship with a patient.
If the law applies to your business, you must:
Register with the Texas Secretary of State using Form 3401
Pay a $200 annual fee
Post a $10,000 security deposit (e.g., bond, certificate of deposit, or letter of credit)
Renew annually
Send marketing texts only between 9 a.m.–9 p.m. (Mon–Sat) and 12 p.m.–9 p.m. (Sun), based on the recipient's local time
Ensure proper consent is obtained and that opt-out instructions are clearly included in every message, and immediately honored
Maintain detailed audit logs and consent records
Your registration is only valid once the Texas Secretary of State issues your certificate, not when you submit the application.
SB 140 introduces powerful enforcement mechanisms, including:
Penalties up to $5,000 per violation
Private lawsuits under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), with no cap on repeat recovery even if a violation was previously litigated
We've built dedicated tools and workflows to help your business stay compliant with SB 140 right out of the box:
Flexible "Texas Compliance" Mode - Blocks or flags marketing texts to Texas residents unless registration and consent are verified
Manual changes to account needed by the client to update lead nurtures as well as add filters for texas customers.
Quiet Hours Enforcement - Ensures messages adhere to state-defined sending windows based on recipient time zones
This can be manually set in wait steps in your lead nurtures or at the workflow level to only run during business approved hours.
Consent & Opt-Out Automation - Captures and stores consent timestamps and sources.
Enables you as the customer to add opt out information to all templates.
Location-Aware Safeguards - Identify Texas contacts using phone number area codes and contact address fields (such as State) in smart lists and workflow filters
Audit Logs & Documentation Storage - Logs messaging activity, registration status, consents, and opt-outs
Allows uploading justification files for exemption status (e.g., business records stating same-name operation duration)
**Note: **Aesthetix CRM does not set this up for customers. Customers must make these updates to the system for compliance.
What these compliance steps don't affect: SB 140 is aimed at marketing and promotional texts. Transactional messages such as appointment reminders, and one-to-one conversations with patients in your Inbox, are not the focus of these filters. If you're unsure whether a message counts as marketing, talk with your attorney.
Exclude Texas contacts if you don't want the compliance burden: If your practice is not located in Texas, you can exclude Texas numbers from marketing sends with smart lists and workflow filters. This does not help practices located in Texas, since messages sent from Texas are also covered.
1 | Review your contacts—identify which reside in Texas |
2 | Evaluate exemptions—are you exempt under SB 140 exceptions? Document your rationale |
3 | If not exempt, register—file Form 3401, pay the fee, post the $10,000 bond deposit |
4 | Enable compliance tools—activate “Texas Compliance” mode, quiet hours, opt-out handling. Note this is all done manually by updating workflows, templates, etc. |
5 | Capture all consents—ensure timestamped, auditable records of user consent |
6 | Test opt-outs—make sure opt-out requests are honored immediately |
7 | Store documentation—keep proof of registration, consent, and operations history |
8 | Consider legal guidance—especially if claiming an exemption or unsure of your obligations |
This document is intended for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Laws, regulatory interpretations, and compliance requirements can change. For guidance tailored to your specific circumstances, please consult a qualified attorney.
Effective Date: September 1, 2025
Covered Communications: SMS, MMS, text, image, graphic messages
Key Requirements (if not exempt): Registration, bond, quiet hours, consent, opt-out, recordkeeping
Registration Update: The Texas Secretary of State currently states that texting with prior consent does not require Chapter 302 registration
Penalties: Up to $5,000 per violation and private lawsuits under DTPA
Aesthetix CRM Features: Texas compliance mode, quiet hours, consents, audit logs, exemption tracking
