Telephone Solicitation

Florida Senate
-
2026

SB 134

By
Senator Polsky

30-00110-26 2026134__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to telephone solicitation; amending s.
3 501.059, F.S.; revising the definition of the terms
4 “telephone solicitor” and “telephonic sales call”;
5 revising the conditions for awarding attorney fees in
6 civil actions relating to telephone solicitation;
7 making technical changes; providing construction and
8 retroactive application; reenacting s. 517.0615(2)(c),
9 F.S., relating to solicitations of interest, to
10 incorporate the amendment made to s. 501.059, F.S., in
11 a reference thereto; providing an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Paragraphs (i) and (j) of subsection (1) and
16 paragraphs (a), (d), and (e) of subsection (11) of section
17 501.059, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
18 501.059 Telephone solicitation.—
19 (1) As used in this section, the term:
20 (i) “Telephone solicitor” means a natural person, firm,
21 organization, partnership, association, or corporation, or a
22 subsidiary or affiliate thereof, doing business in this state,
23 who makes or causes to be made a telephonic sales call,
24 including, but not limited to, calls made by use of automated
25 dialing or recorded message devices.
The term does not include a

26
tax-exempt nonprofit organization or a person or an organization

27
acting on its behalf.

28 (j) “Telephonic sales call” means a telephone call, text
29 message, or voicemail transmission to a consumer for the purpose
30 of soliciting a sale of any consumer goods or services,
31 soliciting an extension of credit for consumer goods or
32 services, or obtaining information that will or may be used for
33 the direct solicitation of a sale of consumer goods or services
34 or an extension of credit for such purposes.
A phone call, text

35
message, or voicemail transmission is not considered a

36
telephonic sales call if it is made by a tax-exempt nonprofit

37
organization for a religious, charitable, political, or

38
educational purpose.

39 (11)(a) In
a

any
civil
action alleging

litigation resulting

40
from a transaction involving
a violation of this section, the
41 prevailing party, after judgment in the trial court and
42 exhaustion of all appeals,
is entitled to

if any, shall receive

43
his or her
reasonable attorney fees and costs from the
44 nonprevailing party.
45 (d)
An

Any
award of attorney fees or costs
becomes

shall

46
become
a part of the judgment and
is
subject to execution
as the

47
law allows
.
48 (e) In
a

any
civil
action

litigation
initiated by the
49 department or the Department of Legal Affairs, the court may
50 award to the prevailing party reasonable attorney fees and costs
51 if the court finds that there was a complete absence of a
52 justiciable issue of either law or fact raised by the losing
53 party or if the court finds bad faith on the part of the losing
54 party.
55 Section 2.
The amendments
made by this act
to s. 501.059,

56
Florida Statutes, are
remedial in nature and apply

57
retroactively
.

58 Section 3. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment
59 made by this act to section 501.059, Florida Statutes, in a
60 reference thereto, paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section
61 517.0615, Florida Statutes, is reenacted to read:
62 517.0615 Solicitations of interest.—
63 (2) Before any offers or sales are made in connection with
64 an offering, communications by an issuer or any person
65 authorized to act on behalf of the issuer are not deemed to
66 constitute general solicitation or general advertising if the
67 communication is solely for the purpose of determining whether
68 there is any interest in a contemplated securities offering.
69 Requirements imposed under this chapter on written or oral
70 statements made in the course of such communication may be
71 enforced as provided in this chapter. The solicitation or
72 acceptance of money or other consideration or of any commitment,
73 binding or otherwise, from any person is prohibited.
74 (c) A communication in accordance with this subsection is
75 not subject to s. 501.059, regarding telephone solicitations.
76 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.