Washington Telemarketing Laws: 8 p.m. Cutoff, 10-Second Hang-Up

November 2, 2026. Washington's telemarketing rules sit in two statutes and set exact numbers. Under RCW 19.158.110, a solicitor must identify itself, its company and the purpose of the call "within the first 30 seconds," must end the call "within 10 seconds" when asked, must keep the number off its lists for at least one year after a do-not-call request, and may not call "before 8:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m." in the recipient's local time. Under RCW 80.36.400, "No person may use an automatic dialing and announcing device for purposes of commercial solicitation," with no consent exception written into subsection (2), and anyone injured can sue for actual damages or $1,000 per violation, whichever is greater. Commercial telephone solicitors register with the Department of Licensing before doing business, which the statute defines to include "solicitation of purchasers located in Washington" from outside the state; separately, the Department of Revenue's Business Licensing Service lists a Commercial Telephone Solicitor state endorsement at $82 per location. Here is each rule as the 2025 Revised Code states it, what it means for recorded and AI voices, and where business-to-business calls stand.

Who is a commercial telephone solicitor

RCW 19.158.020 defines a "commercial telephone solicitation" as "An unsolicited telephone call ... for the purpose of encouraging a person to purchase or invest in property, goods, or services, or wrongfully obtaining anything of value." A "commercial telephone solicitor" is "any person who engages in commercial telephone solicitation, including service bureaus," so an outsourced call centre is covered in its own right. The statute then lists who is not a solicitor, and the list is where most business sellers look for cover:

1. A person whose solicitation "is an isolated transaction and not done in the course of a pattern of repeated transactions of like nature."
2. Calls "for religious, charitable, political, or other noncommercial purposes."
3. "A person soliciting business solely from purchasers who have previously purchased from the business enterprise for which the person is calling."
4. A person soliciting "Without the intent to complete or obtain provisional acceptance of a sale during the telephone solicitation," who "does not make the major sales presentation during the telephone solicitation" and makes it "at a later face-to-face meeting."
5. Sellers of exempt securities, real estate licensees under RCW 18.85.101, registered contractors under RCW 18.27.060, insurance licensees under chapter 48.17, registered franchise sellers, newspaper and periodical sellers, supervised financial institutions and their affiliates, and prearranged funeral sellers; the real estate, contractor and insurance exclusions apply only when that law governs the transaction, and the list continues beyond what we read.

Note what is absent. The statute's protected party is "a person," not "a consumer," and there is no general business-to-business exclusion in the part of the list we read, which continues. The Department of Revenue's endorsement page says the exceptions include "Those who sell to businesses who either resell the product or use it for manufacturing," not a blanket exemption for selling services to companies. An appointment-setting call that makes no major sales presentation and books a later face-to-face meeting can fit exclusion four; a call that closes a subscription on the phone does not.

Registration with the Department of Licensing

RCW 19.158.050: "In order to maintain or defend a lawsuit or do any business in this state, a commercial telephone solicitor must be registered with the department of licensing. Prior to doing business in this state, a commercial telephone solicitor shall register with the department of licensing. Doing business in this state includes both commercial telephone solicitation from a location in Washington and solicitation of purchasers located in Washington." The application covers "past business history, prior judgments" and other identifying information, and the department issues a registration number that must be stated on any sale (RCW 19.158.110(6)) and on request before a sale (subsection (7)). RCW 19.158.150 makes it a misdemeanour for a salesperson to solicit "on behalf of a commercial telephone solicitor who is not currently registered."

The Department of Revenue's Business Licensing Service also lists a Commercial Telephone Solicitor state endorsement. The Department of Revenue page says "Any business making unsolicited commercial telephone calls and selling goods or products during the call is required to have a Commercial Telephone Solicitor endorsement," also required for "those who offer free prizes by mail and invite a telephone response." The fee is "$82 per location," plus a variable business licence application fee and $5 to register a trade name. The application needs a Commercial Telephone Solicitor addendum and a personal and criminal history form for each manager in charge at the location and for each proprietor, partner, corporate officer or LLC member. Our hub on telemarketing laws by state compares this with other states.

The call itself: RCW 19.158.110

The cutoff follows the recipient's local time, and the hang-up rule gives the caller 10 seconds. The one-year, all-numbers reach of the do-not-call request also matters for teams that keep several numbers per contact: a request on a mobile can also cover an office line associated with that person.

Recorded voices: an outright ban on commercial robocalls

RCW 80.36.400 defines an "automatic dialing and announcing device" as "a system which automatically dials telephone numbers and transmits a recorded or artificial voice message once a connection is made," and adds that the message "is transmitted even if the recorded or artificial message goes directly to a recipient's voicemail." Subsection (2): "No person may use an automatic dialing and announcing device for purposes of commercial solicitation. This section applies to all commercial solicitation intended to be received by telephone customers within the state." "Commercial solicitation" means "the unsolicited initiation of a telephone communication made for the purpose of encouraging a person to purchase property, goods, or services."

There is no consent carve-out written into that subsection, and the ban reaches the unsolicited initiation of a commercial call. The statute's own words, "recorded or artificial voice," read naturally to include a synthesized AI voice when the system dials automatically. Subsection (3) also bans knowingly assisting in the transmission of such calls, with an affirmative defence for carriers that comply with the federal TCPA and Telemarketing Sales Rule and run "a reasonably effective plan to mitigate" the traffic. Subsection (4) makes a violation an unfair or deceptive act under the Consumer Protection Act and lets an injured person "recover actual damages or $1,000 per violation of this section, whichever is greater," on top of the Act's other remedies.

The practical consequence for an AI voice programme: in Washington, outbound AI solicitation to a cold list is not a consent problem to solve, it is a prohibited use. The uses that remain are inbound (the customer called, so nothing was "unsolicited" or "initiated" by the seller), and outbound calls that are not commercial solicitation, such as appointment reminders or service notices to existing customers. To apply that line to a list, see TCPA-compliant AI calling; state-level suppression helps, and the best AI voice agents in 2026 compares platforms.

What a sales team should set up

1. Register before you dial. If you make unsolicited sales calls into Washington and no exclusion fits, register with the Department of Licensing, check the Department of Revenue's $82 per location endorsement, and put the registration number in the closing script.
2. Script the opening and the exit. Name, company, purpose inside 30 seconds; a hang-up routine that ends the call inside 10 seconds.
3. Set hours to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the recipient's clock. The cutoff follows the recipient's local time.
4. Make do-not-call requests span every number on the record for a year. The statute reaches "any telephone number associated with that party."
5. Keep recorded and AI voices off unsolicited outbound calls to Washington. Use live agents for cold outreach and reserve the AI agent for inbound and existing-customer notices.

For the federal layer underneath all of this, see TCPA vicarious liability on when a vendor's calls become yours, and is ringless voicemail legal for the voicemail question the Washington statute answers in its own definition. This is general information, not legal advice.