Colorado Telemarketing and Robocall Laws: Statutes, Rules, and How They Differ from the TCPA

Overview

Colorado regulates telemarketing through two parts of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-101 et seq.

• Part 3 (§§ 6-1-301 to 6-1-305) regulates any "commercial telephone seller." It requires registration with the Attorney General, gives purchasers a three-business-day cancellation right, restricts "free" offers and prize claims, and limits commercial solicitation of cell phones through directory listings and scanning devices.
• Part 9, the Colorado No-Call List Act (§§ 6-1-901 to 6-1-908), establishes a state no-call list administered by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). It requires every telephone solicitor to register with the list's designated agent, and it bars blocking caller ID.

Unlike many states, Colorado keeps its own no-call list, separate from the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The PUC explains that "Colorado accesses the national website and gathers Colorado subscriber telephone numbers from the FTC to ensure that they also appear on the Colorado No-Call List." Telemarketers must therefore register for, pay for where applicable, and scrub against the Colorado list in addition to the federal one.

Violations of Part 9 are deceptive trade practices under § 6-1-906(1). They are enforceable by the Attorney General and district attorneys through civil penalties and by private parties through the CCPA's damages provision, which provides a 500-dollar minimum recovery. Part 3 violations carry their own penalties under § 6-1-305, "In addition to the remedies available under sections 6-1-110" and the CCPA's civil penalty and damages provisions. Legislation effective August 12, 2026 changed parts of this structure (see Recent amendments).

Statutory quotations on this page are from the Colorado Revised Statutes 2024, the most recent edition published by the Colorado General Assembly's Office of Legislative Legal Services. Changes made by 2026 session laws are noted where they affect the quoted text.

Key statutes table

Detailed provisions

Do-not-call (the Colorado No-Call List Act)

Scope. The Act's definition of "telephone solicitation" is broad and expressly reaches text messages:

"Telephone solicitation" means any voice, telefacsimile, graphic imaging, or data communication, including text messaging communication over a telephone line or through a wireless telephone for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services.

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-903(10)(a). The term includes covered communications "whether such communication originates from a live operator, through the use of automatic dialing and recorded message equipment, or by other means." § 6-1-903(10)(c).

The prohibition. Section 6-1-904(1)(a) bars any person or entity from making or causing to be made "any telephone solicitation to the telephone of any residential subscriber or wireless telephone service subscriber in this state" whose telephone number and zip code have been added to the Colorado no-call list under the PUC's rules. House Bill 26-1426 restated the subsection in gender-neutral terms, effective August 12, 2026, without changing its substance. 2026 Colo. Sess. Laws ch. 334, § 30.

The Colorado Supreme Court has held that a person who subscribes to residential service with a local exchange provider and lists the number on the no-call list remains protected even if the same phone is also used and listed for business purposes. The court explained that nothing in the statute "suggests that using a no-call listed telephone for business purposes or permitting it to appear on commercial telephone listings causes an otherwise qualifying “residential subscriber” to somehow lose the protections of the Act." Holcomb v. Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems of Southern Colorado, No. 06SC757 (Colo. Dec. 17, 2007).

Registration with the list. Every solicitor must register, whether or not it calls listed numbers: "Any person or entity that makes a telephone solicitation to the telephone of any residential subscriber or wireless telephone service subscriber in this state shall register in accordance with the provisions of section 6-1-905 (3)(b)(II)." § 6-1-904(1)(b). The designated agent's site states that "Registration is required even if your company intends to use a list service (sometimes referred to as a "conforming list broker") that purports to comply with the Colorado No Call List."

List updates. Solicitors "shall update their copies of the Colorado no-call list, conforming consolidated no-call list, or a list obtained from a conforming list broker within thirty days after the beginning of every calendar quarter." § 6-1-904(4). The designated agent states that "The updated lists must be used by January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31."

Relationship to the national registry. The statute directs that, "To the extent allowed by federal law, the designated agent shall ensure that the Colorado no-call list includes that portion of an official national do-not-call database that relates to Colorado." § 6-1-905(3)(c).

Registration and bond

No-call list registration. Under the 2024 text of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-905(3)(b)(II), the PUC sets an annual registration fee "of not more than five hundred dollars for persons or entities that wish to make telephone solicitations or otherwise access the database," on "a sliding scale so that persons or entities with fewer than five employees shall pay no fee." House Bill 26-1326, effective August 12, 2026, raised the cap to one thousand dollars, kept the exemption for entities with fewer than five employees, and directed the PUC to establish by rule a separate fee for conforming list brokers. 2026 Colo. Sess. Laws ch. 210, § 39. The designated agent's published 2026 schedule is: 0 to 4 employees, no fee; 5 to 10 employees, 375 dollars; 11 to 50, 475 dollars; 51 to 100, 480 dollars; 101 to 250, 485 dollars; 251 to 400, 490 dollars; 401 to 1,000, 495 dollars; more than 1,000, 500 dollars. The fee is based on the total number of employees of the company that employs the telemarketers, not only the telemarketers.

Commercial telephone seller registration. Separately, Part 3 requires registration with the Attorney General:

No commercial telephone seller shall conduct business in this state without having registered with the attorney general at least ten days prior to the conduct of such business.

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-303(1). "Individual employees of the commercial telephone seller are not required to register." Id. A registration "shall be effective for one year after the date of filing with the attorney general." § 6-1-303(2). The filing fee "shall not exceed two hundred fifty dollars for an application for registration or one hundred dollars for an application for renewal." Id. The Attorney General's 2026 application form lists an "Initial Application ($200.00)" and a "Renewal Application ($100.00)."

The application must include, among other items, "A listing of all telephone numbers, including pay-per-call numbers, to be used by the commercial telephone seller" and "a copy of all sales scripts the commercial telephone seller requires salespersons to use when soliciting prospective purchasers." § 6-1-303(5)(d), (f). "The information submitted pursuant to this section shall be available for public inspection." § 6-1-303(4).

Part 3 contains no bond requirement.

Who is a commercial telephone seller. The definition covers anyone who "in the course of such person's business, vocation, or occupation, on the person's own behalf or on behalf of another person, causes or attempts to cause a commercial telephone solicitation to be made." § 6-1-302(1). There are 20 exemptions in § 6-1-302(1)(a) to (t). They include licensed securities sellers, supervised financial organizations and lenders, licensed insurance sellers, entities regulated by the PUC or the real estate commission, and established retailers. A "commercial telephone solicitation" includes "Unsolicited telephone calls to a person initiated by a commercial telephone seller or salesperson, or an automated dialing machine with or without a recorded message device, for the purpose of inducing the person to purchase or invest in goods, services, or property or offering an extension of credit." § 6-1-302(2)(a).

Calling hours

No Colorado statute reviewed for this page sets calling hours. The federal 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. window applies (see the federal comparison section below).

Call frequency

Colorado does not limit the number of calls. The no-call exemption for consumer inquiries ends "until the subscriber requests that no further calls be made, whichever occurs first." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-903(10)(b)(III).

Automated dialing compared with Facebook v. Duguid

Colorado has no standalone autodialer or prerecorded message ban comparable to 47 U.S.C. § 227(b). Its statutes simply treat automated calls as covered solicitations. Part 3 covers solicitations made by "an automated dialing machine with or without a recorded message device." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-302(2)(a). Part 9 covers solicitations made "through the use of automatic dialing and recorded message equipment." § 6-1-903(10)(c).

Because Colorado law turns on whether a communication is a solicitation, not on the equipment used, Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (2021), has little effect on Colorado liability. A solicitation to a number on the Colorado list is unlawful whether it is dialed by hand, from a stored list, or by a random number generator.

Cell phone scanning. Part 3 does address one equipment-based practice. On or after September 1, 2005, a person commits an unlawful telemarketing practice if the person knowingly "Uses a scanning device or other electronic means to identify a cellular telephone number and to make a commercial telephone solicitation to a cellular telephone." § 6-1-304(4)(a)(II). The same subsection bars knowingly listing "a cellular telephone number in a directory for a commercial purpose unless the person whose number has been listed has given affirmative consent, through written, oral, or electronic means, to such listing." § 6-1-304(4)(a)(I). Neither rule applies "to a commercial telephone solicitation that is in relation to a preexisting commercial relationship between the person and the person who owns the cellular telephone." § 6-1-304(4)(b).

Text messages

Text messages are expressly within the No-Call List Act. The definition of "telephone solicitation" includes "text messaging communication over a telephone line or through a wireless telephone." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-903(10)(a). Marketing texts to numbers on the Colorado list are therefore prohibited unless an exclusion applies. This matters because the Seventh Circuit has held that the federal do-not-call private action does not cover texts (see the federal comparison section below).

Caller ID

Section 6-1-904(3) provides:

No person or entity that makes a telephone solicitation to the telephone of a residential subscriber or a wireless telephone service subscriber in this state shall knowingly utilize any method to block or otherwise circumvent such subscriber's use of a caller identification service when that person or entity's service or equipment is capable of allowing the display of the number.

"No provider of telephone caller identification service shall be held liable for violations of this part 9 committed by other persons or entities." § 6-1-906(4).

Disclosures and opt-out

A commercial telephone seller must disclose the cancellation right. It is an unlawful telemarketing practice to fail "to disclose to the purchaser during a telephone solicitation that the purchaser has the cancellation rights set forth in paragraph (b) of this subsection (1)." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-304(1)(d).

It is also unlawful to misrepresent "to any person that the person has won a contest, sweepstakes, or drawing, or that the person will receive free goods, services, or property," or to represent that goods are "free" if the seller "charges or collects a fee from the purchaser in exchange for providing or delivering such goods, services, or property." § 6-1-304(1)(e), (f).

A seller that refers to its registration must add a disclaimer. It may not make "any reference to the commercial telephone seller's compliance with this article to any purchaser without also disclosing that compliance with this article does not constitute approval by any governmental agency of the seller's marketing, advertisements, promotions, goods, or services." § 6-1-304(1)(g).

Contracts and cancellation

Colorado gives telephone purchasers a statutory cancellation right. It is an unlawful telemarketing practice when a commercial telephone seller:

Fails to allow the purchaser in any telephone sales transaction to cancel any purchase or agreement to purchase goods, services, or property at any time before the expiration of three business days after the purchaser's receipt of such goods, services, or property by delivering or mailing to the commercial telephone seller written notice of cancellation.

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-304(1)(b). "Notice of cancellation, if sent by mail, is deemed to be given as of the date the mailed notice was postmarked." Id. The seller must refund all payments "within thirty days after the commercial telephone seller receives notice of cancellation from the purchaser." § 6-1-304(1)(c). Where goods were delivered, the deadline runs from receipt of the returned goods. § 6-1-304(1)(c)(I). Services that "cannot, by their nature, be returned" need not be refunded. § 6-1-304(1)(c)(II).

A seller can use a more generous return policy in place of this right. The cancellation and disclosure requirements do not apply where "the consumer obtains a full refund for the return of undamaged or unused goods or a cancellation of services by giving notice to the seller within seven days after receipt by the consumer and the seller processes the refund or cancellation within thirty days." § 6-1-304(2). The terms must be disclosed "orally by telephone and in writing." Id.

Exemptions

No-call exclusions. Under § 6-1-903(10)(b), "telephone solicitation" does not include communications:

• "To any residential subscriber or wireless telephone service subscriber with the subscriber's prior express invitation or permission."
• "By or on behalf of any person or entity with whom a residential subscriber or wireless telephone service subscriber has an established business relationship."
• For 30 days after the subscriber has contacted a business to inquire about a purchase, or until the subscriber asks that no further calls be made.
• By or on behalf of registered charitable organizations.
• Made solely for political candidate or ballot issue advocacy, or for polling.

Established business relationship. The relationship must be formed "through a voluntary, two-way communication between a seller or telephone solicitor and a residential subscriber or wireless telephone service subscriber, with or without consideration, on the basis of an application, purchase, ongoing contractual agreement, or commercial transaction." § 6-1-903(7)(a)(I). It must not have been "previously terminated by either party." § 6-1-903(7)(a)(II). It must currently exist "or has existed within the immediately preceding eighteen months." § 6-1-903(7)(a)(III). A special rule for financial institutions subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act extends the relationship to "solicitation calls related to other financial services offered." § 6-1-903(7)(b).

Charitable and political callers are exempt, but the General Assembly "encourages such organizations to voluntarily comply with this part 9 when possible." § 6-1-902(1)(d).

Private right of action

The CCPA's private action expressly covers no-call violations. An action is available to any person who "is a residential subscriber, as defined in section 6-1-903 (9), who receives unlawful telephone solicitation, as defined in section 6-1-903 (10)." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-113(1)(a). The cross-referenced definition in § 6-1-903(9) covers residential subscribers to service "with a local exchange provider." The text of § 6-1-113(1)(a) does not separately mention wireless telephone service subscribers, although § 6-1-904 protects them. Whether wireless subscribers who suffer no other injury may sue under that clause is not resolved by the statutory text.

Part 3 creates a separate private action for the cell phone directory and scanning violations. A person who violates § 6-1-304(4) "shall be liable in a private civil action to the owner of the cellular telephone for consequential damages, court costs, attorney fees, and a penalty in the amount of at least three hundred dollars and not more than five hundred dollars for a first offense and at least five hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars for a second or subsequent offense." § 6-1-305(1)(c).

The PUC advises that "Complaints or private legal actions may only be filed after the update period passes."

Damages

Outside class actions, a defendant found liable in a private CCPA action owes "The greater of" the actual damages sustained, with prejudgment interest, or "Five hundred dollars," or "Three times the amount of actual damages sustained, if it is established by clear and convincing evidence that such person engaged in bad faith conduct." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-113(2)(a). "Bad faith conduct" means "fraudulent, willful, knowing, or intentional conduct that causes injury." § 6-1-113(2.3). For a typical no-call claim with no actual loss, the recovery is therefore the 500-dollar minimum.

Attorney fees

A successful private plaintiff recovers "the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney fees as determined by the court." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-113(2)(b). A plaintiff who brings an action "found by the court to be frivolous, groundless and in bad faith, or for the purpose of harassment shall be liable to the defendant for the costs of the action together with reasonable attorney fees." § 6-1-113(3). "Costs and attorney fees shall be awarded to the attorney general or a district attorney in all actions where the attorney general or the district attorney successfully enforces this article." § 6-1-113(4).

Class action limits

The 500-dollar minimum and treble damages do not apply in class actions. Subsection (2) applies "Except in a class action." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-113(2). Since 2022, "In a case certified as a class action, a successful plaintiff may recover actual damages, injunctive relief allowed by law, and reasonable attorney fees and costs." § 6-1-113(2.9). Because most no-call claims involve no actual damages, class treatment offers little monetary recovery under Colorado law.

Statute of limitations

"All actions brought under this article must be commenced within three years after the date on which the false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice occurred," or after the date on which "the last in a series of such acts or practices occurred." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-115. The period may also run from discovery, and it "may be extended for a period of one year if the plaintiff proves that failure to timely commence the action was caused by the defendant engaging in conduct calculated to induce the plaintiff to refrain from or postpone the commencement of the action." Id.

Attorney General enforcement

"[V]iolation of any provision of this part 9 constitutes a deceptive trade practice under the provisions of section 6-1-105 (1) and may be enforced under sections 6-1-110, 6-1-112, and 6-1-113." Colo. Rev. Stat. § 6-1-906(1). The Act limits state enforcement to repeated conduct: "No state enforcement action under this part 9 may be brought against a person or entity for fewer than three violations per month." Id.

The Act provides two defenses. It is not a violation if "The person or entity has otherwise fully complied with the provisions of this part 9 and has established and implemented, prior to the violation, written practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations in violation of this part 9," or if the violation resulted from a transcription error or technical defect in the list as received. § 6-1-906(2)(a), (b).

Civil penalties are substantial. A violator "shall forfeit and pay to the general fund of this state a civil penalty of not more than twenty thousand dollars for each such violation," and "a violation of any provision shall constitute a separate violation with respect to each consumer or transaction involved." § 6-1-112(1)(a). Where the violation "was committed against an elderly person," the cap is "not more than fifty thousand dollars for each such violation." § 6-1-112(1)(c).

Criminal penalties apply to commercial telephone sellers. A seller that, after written notice of noncompliance from the Attorney General or a district attorney, conducts business without registering "commits a class 1 misdemeanor," as does a seller that "knowingly engages in any unlawful telemarketing practice as defined in section 6-1-304 (1)(b) to (1)(h)." § 6-1-305(1)(a), (b). The PUC states that "The Colorado Attorney General is responsible for enforcement."

Federal comparison

Colorado is stricter than federal law in several ways:

• Telemarketers must buy access to, and scrub against, a separate state list.
• Every solicitor must register with the list's designated agent before calling.
• Text messages are expressly covered.
• The inquiry-based exemption lasts 30 days instead of the three months allowed under federal rules.
• Commercial telephone sellers must register with the Attorney General and honor a cancellation right.

Colorado is more forgiving in other ways. Its quarterly update cycle is less frequent than the federal requirement to use "a version of the national do-not-call registry obtained from the administrator of the registry no more than 31 days prior to the date any call is made." 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(D). Callers must satisfy both standards, so in practice the 31-day federal rule controls for national registry numbers. Colorado's private damages are also lower. Section 6-1-113(2) states the 500-dollar figure as an alternative measure of the amount for which a liable defendant must pay, and does not state that it applies per call. The minimum is unavailable in class actions. The federal private action provides "up to $500 in damages for each such violation." 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5).

On texts, the Seventh Circuit held in July 2026 that § 227(c)(5) does not reach text messages. Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services, LLC, No. 25-2398 (7th Cir. July 14, 2026). Colorado is in the Tenth Circuit, and its no-call law covers texts on its own terms.

Case law

Holcomb v. Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems of Southern Colorado, No. 06SC757 (Colo. Dec. 17, 2007). A subscriber whose residential number was on the Colorado no-call list sued in small claims court after a cleaning company solicited him using a purchased list of business numbers. The district court held that by also using and listing the phone for business, the subscriber had left the protected class. The Colorado Supreme Court reversed, holding that "the unambiguous language of the statute includes Holcomb within the class of residential subscribers protected by the no-call list." The court noted that the Act "provides two, but only two, grounds for excusing conduct that would otherwise amount to a violation," and that the § 6-1-906(2)(a) defense "applies, on its face, only to persons or entities that have otherwise fully complied with the provisions of the Act and have both established and implemented written practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations in violation of the Act." It remanded the defense question because the record did not show that the company "even considered itself obligated to consult the official Colorado no-call list." Three justices dissented and would have affirmed on the defense ground.

Recent amendments

• 2026 (HB 26-1326, 2026 Colo. Sess. Laws ch. 210, effective August 12, 2026). Amended § 6-1-905(3)(b)(II) to raise the cap on the annual no-call registration fee from five hundred to one thousand dollars and to require the PUC to set by rule a separate fee for conforming list brokers.
• 2026 (HB 26-1426, 2026 Colo. Sess. Laws ch. 334, effective August 12, 2026). Repealed § 6-1-105(1)(cc), which had listed "any commercial telephone solicitation which constitutes an unlawful telemarketing practice as described in section 6-1-304" as a deceptive trade practice, as part of a consolidation of overlapping CCPA provisions. The act also restated §§ 6-1-904(1)(a) and 6-1-905(3)(b)(III) in gender-neutral terms. Part 3 itself was not amended, and § 6-1-305(1) still provides its penalties in addition to the CCPA's enforcement and damages provisions. How the repeal affects private damages claims for Part 3 violations under § 6-1-113 has not been addressed by a court.
• 2022 (HB 22-1071, effective August 10, 2022). Added § 6-1-113(2.9), which limits class action recovery to "actual damages, injunctive relief allowed by law, and reasonable attorney fees and costs."
• 2019 (HB 19-1289) and 2023 (HB 23-1257). Amended the civil penalty provisions in § 6-1-112, which now provide up to 20,000 dollars per violation and up to 50,000 dollars where the victim is elderly.

Apart from the 2026 fee change, the No-Call List Act has not been substantively amended since 2008, according to the source notes in the 2024 statutes.

Compliance checklist

• Register with the Colorado No-Call List designated agent and pay the applicable annual fee before making any solicitation to a Colorado number, even if you use a list broker.
• Download the updated Colorado list each quarter and scrub against it by the deadlines (January 31, April 30, July 31, and October 31), and separately scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry at least every 31 days.
• Treat marketing texts as telephone solicitations under Colorado law.
• If you are a "commercial telephone seller" and none of the § 6-1-302(1) exemptions applies, register with the Attorney General at least 10 days before calling and renew annually.
• Tell telephone purchasers about the three-business-day cancellation right, or offer and disclose a qualifying seven-day return and refund policy.
• Never knowingly block caller ID on solicitations to Colorado subscribers.
• Do not use scanning devices to find cell phone numbers for solicitation, and do not list cell numbers in commercial directories without consent.
• Keep written no-call procedures to support the § 6-1-906(2)(a) defense, and document established business relationships, including the 18-month window.
• End inquiry-based calling 30 days after the consumer's inquiry, or sooner if the consumer asks.

References

• https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-06.pdf
• https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
• https://puc.colorado.gov/coloradonocall
• https://www.coloradonocall.com/Public/Telemarketers.aspx
• https://www.coloradonocall.com/Public/TelemarketerFees.aspx
• https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2026/05/2026-Telemarketing-Registration-and-Renewal-Application_A11Y.pdf
• https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-64/subpart-L/section-64.1200
• https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-310
• https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title47/html/USCODE-2023-title47-chap5-subchapII-partI-sec227.htm
• https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb26-1326
• https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb26-1426
• https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/06SC757.pdf

This page summarizes state law for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Statutes change; confirm current text with the official source before relying on it.