Two-party consent states for call recording: the 2026 list

Two-party consent states for call recording, more precisely all-party consent states, require everyone on a call to agree before it is recorded. As of October 2026, 11 states mainly require all-party consent, Connecticut and Nevada require it for phone calls, and federal law and the other states need only one party. A recording notice at the start of every call is the simplest way to cover all of them.

Federal law: one party’s consent

The federal wiretap law sets the floor for the whole country. Under 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d), it is not unlawful for a person to record a call they are a party to, or one where a party has given prior consent, unless the recording is made for a criminal or tortious purpose. A rep recording their own sales call meets the federal rule.

States can be stricter, and many are. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press keeps a state-by-state recording guide, and its introduction notes that every state except Vermont has at least one recording law. Vermont has none, so only the federal rule applies there.

The all-party consent states for phone calls

The table lists the states that require every party’s consent to record a phone call, with the statute the RCFP guide cites for each. The RCFP state pages were last updated between October 2019 and August 2021, so confirm the current text with your counsel.

State	Statute	Rule for phone calls
California	Cal. Penal Code § 632(a)	All parties to a confidential communication
Connecticut	Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-570d	All parties, or civil liability; the criminal law needs one party
Delaware	Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, § 1335(a)(4)	All parties under the privacy law; the wiretap law (§ 2402(c)(4)) says one party
Florida	Fla. Stat. § 934.03(2)(d)	All parties
Illinois	720 ILCS 5/14-1, 5/14-2	All parties to a private call
Maryland	Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 10-402(c)(3)	All parties
Massachusetts	Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272, § 99(C)	All parties; applies to secret recordings
Michigan	Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.539c	All parties for outsiders; courts disagree on participants
Montana	Mont. Code Ann. § 45-8-213(1)(c)	Knowledge of all parties; a warning is an exception
Nevada	Nev. Rev. Stat. § 200.620	All parties for phone calls
New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 570-A:2	All parties
Pennsylvania	18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 5703, 5704(4)	All parties
Washington	Rev. Code Wash. § 9.73.030	All parties; a recorded announcement counts as consent

Some states are easy to misread. Oregon and Missouri need only one party’s consent for phone calls. Hawaii and Maine require all parties only for conversations in particularly private places. In Delaware, where two statutes conflict, the RCFP advises getting every party’s consent, and in Michigan, courts disagree on whether a participant may record without the others’ consent.

Interstate calls: plan for the stricter state

A rep in Virginia, which needs one party’s consent for phone calls, who records a call with a buyer in Maryland, an all-party state, may be liable under Maryland law, the RCFP guide’s own example. The guide notes that some courts apply the law of the state where the recording device is, while others apply the law of the state where the recorded person is. That lets the person who was recorded choose where to sue.

California’s Supreme Court settled the question for calls into California. In Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, decided on 13 Jul 2006, a brokerage’s Atlanta office had recorded calls with California clients without telling them, which Georgia law allowed. The court applied California law to those calls and let the claim for an injunction go forward. It also noted that a business that tells callers at the start that the call is recorded would not violate § 632.

Two more facts make a state-by-state approach fragile for sales teams:

• Area codes do not show location. A mobile number with a Texas area code can belong to someone who lives in California.
• Buyers travel. The person may take your call from a different state than the one in your CRM.

The recording notice: the practical standard

Most US teams use one rule for every call: tell the person at the start that the call is recorded. The RCFP introduction says consent is generally presumed when the parties are warned of the recording and continue the conversation. Several all-party states say so in their own terms:

• Washington treats a reasonably effective recorded announcement as consent.
• Connecticut’s civil statute accepts consent in writing, verbal consent that is recorded, or a recorded warning.
• Montana exempts recordings of people who were warned.
• Massachusetts applies its law to secret recordings.

Approach	How it works	Trade-off
Notice at the start of every call	The rep says the call is recorded before the conversation starts	One rule for all states; the person can object or hang up
Ask, then record	The rep asks for permission and starts recording after a yes	The yes is on the recording; one more step in the opener
No recording for all-party states	Recording is off by area code or CRM state	Breaks when the area code or the CRM state is wrong

Steps for your team

1. Write one US policy: a recording notice at the start of every call, whatever the state.
2. Put the notice in the opener, before the reason for the call. For example: “Hi Dana, this is Sam from Acme. This call is recorded.”
3. Start recording before the notice, so the notice is on the recording.
4. If the person objects, stop recording or end the call, and note it in the CRM.
5. Apply the same rule to call transcripts, since they are made from the recording.
6. For calls outside the US, check each country’s rules. See calling by country.
7. Review the policy with your counsel, starting with California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington if you call them often.

How DialSavvy handles this

DialSavvy records calls and produces transcripts and AI call summaries. Recording rules by country and per-state US rules, which set a notice, all-party consent, or rep-only recording, are coming. Until they ship, put the notice in your opener. See DialSavvy compliance, and for when to call each region, legal calling hours by country.

Add the one-sentence notice to your opener script today, and listen to 5 recordings next week to check that reps say it.