Committee expands telephone-solicitation restrictions to texts and RCS, adds caller-identification rules

House Bill 3,865 would expand Oregon’s telephone solicitation statute to explicitly include text messages, rich communication services (RCS) and email-to-text messages, and would require clearer identity and purpose disclosures by the caller early in the communication.

The Department of Justice worked with the sponsor’s office on the dash-2 amendment to move certain technical provisions into the autodialer statute and to add RCS and email-to-text to the definition of telephone solicitation. Leslie Wu of the Oregon Department of Justice summarized the technical fixes and said the amendment aligns solicitation rules with emerging messaging formats and federal concerns about fraud in email-to-text and RCS channels.

The amendment also requires that a telephone solicitor not intentionally falsify identity or the originating number, and, for automatic dialing and announcing devices, restricts calls to between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. and limits calls to three attempts in 24 hours. Representative Reschke noted uncertainty about federal regulation of RCS and asked DOJ to follow up on whether other states regulate RCS; DOJ agreed to research that question.

The committee adopted the dash-2 amendment by roll call (ayes outnumbered nos) after Representative Reschke and other members questioned technical implications for small businesses. Vice Chair Taichie later moved HB 3,865 as amended to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the committee approved the measure in roll call (several members recorded no votes and some excused), and the bill was carried to the House floor.