US state telemarketing hours that are stricter than federal rules

Federal rules allow telemarketing calls from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM in the called person’s local time, but some states are stricter. As of October 2026, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wyoming end calls at 8:00 PM, and Alabama and Louisiana ban sales calls on Sundays and holidays. Most of these rules target consumer calls, but not all of them exempt B2B.

The federal baseline

Two federal rules set the default window. The FCC’s rule (47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1)) bars telephone solicitations to a residential telephone subscriber before 8:00 AM or after 9:00 PM, local time at the called party’s location, and paragraph (e) extends it to wireless numbers. The FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule sets the same 8:00 AM–9:00 PM window for calls to a person’s residence, but it exempts most calls between a telemarketer and a business (16 CFR 310.6(b)(7)).

State law can narrow that window. When a state rule is stricter, you follow both, so in practice the stricter one decides.

States with stricter calling hours

These are the states whose current text we checked, as of October 2026. Times are in the called person’s local time. The list is not complete, so check every state you call.

State	Calling hours	Days	Other limits	Calls to businesses
Alabama	8:00 AM–8:00 PM	No Sundays or holidays	Live callers state their name and phone number within 10 s of the answer	The rule covers solicitation calls “to consumers”
Florida	8:00 AM–8:00 PM	No day bans	Max 3 calls per person in 24 h on the same subject	Covers consumer goods or services; the B2B exemption does not apply to the hours rule
Louisiana	8:00 AM–8:00 PM, Monday to Saturday	No Sundays or legal holidays	No solicitation during a declared state of emergency while the Commission reports to the state’s emergency center	Covers residential telephonic subscribers
Maryland	8:00 AM–8:00 PM	No day bans	Max 3 calls per person in 24 h on the same subject	No B2B exemption for the hours rule
Oklahoma	8:00 AM–8:00 PM	No day bans	Max 3 calls per person in 24 h on the same subject	Narrow B2B exemption (see below)
Washington	8:00 AM–8:00 PM	No day bans	Identify yourself, your company, and the purpose within 30 s; end the call within 10 s when asked	Business-to-business contacts are excluded
Wyoming	8:00 AM–8:00 PM	No day bans	State your name, company, contact details, and purpose at the outset	Covers consumer goods or services

Sources: Alabama r. 770-X-5-.17, Florida 501.616, Louisiana PSC general order, Maryland 14-4502, Oklahoma HB 3168 (in force since 1 Nov 2022), Washington RCW 80.36.390, and Wyoming 40-12-302.

Sunday and holiday bans

Two of the states above close whole days, not just evening hours:

• Alabama. The Public Service Commission’s rule says “no solicitation calls are allowed on Sundays or holidays”, for both live and automated calls to consumers.
• Louisiana. The Public Service Commission’s Do Not Call general order says no calls on Sunday or legal holidays, and it applies these terms even to solicitors that qualify for an exception, such as an existing business relationship.

Neither text lists the holidays in the section we read, so agree on a holiday list with your counsel and load it into your calling calendar before each quarter.

Do state calling hours apply to B2B calls?

There is no single answer. Each state’s text decides through 3 questions:

1. Who is called? Louisiana’s order covers residential telephonic subscribers. Alabama’s rule covers calls to consumers.
2. What is sold? Florida and Wyoming define their rules around consumer goods or services, meaning property or services normally used, or intended to be used, for personal, family, or household purposes.
3. Is there a B2B exemption, and does it reach the hours rule? Washington excludes “business-to-business contacts” from telephone solicitation. Florida exempts some business-to-business sales, but section 501.604 says its exemptions do not apply to 501.616(6), the hours and frequency rule. Oklahoma exempts a business-to-business sale only when the seller has operated for at least 3 years under the same name with at least 50% of its sales volume from repeat sales to existing businesses, or when the buyer will resell the goods or use them in manufacturing or recycling. Maryland’s B2B exemption covers only its autodialer consent rule, not the hours rule, and Maryland presumes that a solicitation to any Maryland area code reaches a resident or a place of business in the state.

A buyer’s mobile number adds another question, because the federal hours rule reaches wireless numbers. Unless your counsel says otherwise, give mobiles the same calling window as residential numbers.

How to set calling windows across states

1. Find each contact’s state. Use the area code and the CRM address. When they disagree, apply the stricter window.
2. Use one default window for US calls: 8:00 AM–8:00 PM in the contact’s local time, Monday to Saturday. It fits the hours of every state in the table above; step 3 covers the day bans.
3. Block Sundays and holidays for Alabama and Louisiana contacts, from a holiday list your counsel approves.
4. Cap attempts at 3 per person in 24 hours on the same subject, counted across all your numbers. This is the limit in Florida, Maryland, and Oklahoma.
5. Script the identification so the rep’s name, the company, a phone number, and the purpose come in the first 10 seconds, which covers Alabama’s and Washington’s timing.
6. End the call quickly when asked, within 10 seconds in Washington, and add the number to your do-not-call list.
7. Review the rules every quarter. Oklahoma’s act dates from 2022, and Washington’s section was last amended in 2023.

For other countries, see our guide to legal calling hours by country. If you run parallel sessions late in the day, the same review should also cover abandoned calls, as in our SDR call metrics guide.

How DialSavvy handles this

Today, DialSavvy checks calling hours in the contact’s time zone and your do-not-call list before every call, using the rule pack for the country called. Per-state rules for the US, including state calling hours, and public-holiday calendars are coming. Until they ship, plan US call blocks inside 8:00 AM–8:00 PM, Monday to Saturday, in each contact’s local time. See DialSavvy compliance and country coverage.

Before your next US campaign, tag every contact with a state, apply the strictest window that fits it, and ask your counsel to confirm the holiday list.