Colorado Do Not Call List: The No-Call List Act, Texts and Your $500 Claim

Colorado asks you to register twice

Colorado is one of the few states that still keeps its own list and tells people to use both. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) says over 2.7 million Coloradans have signed up for the Colorado No-Call List. It explains that the FTC no longer accepts no-call data from the states, but Colorado pulls Colorado numbers from the national registry so they also appear on the state list. The PUC’s advice is to register on both.

• State list: online at coloradonocall.com, or by phone at 303-776-2678 or 1-800-309-7041. A private company, Data Protection Group LLC, runs the site under contract with the PUC.
• Federal list: donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222.
• Cost: free for consumers, by statute.
• Which numbers: residential and wireless numbers. The state site also accepts fax numbers.
• Complaints: 1-800-309-7041 or the online complaint form. The Colorado Attorney General enforces the law.

Timing matters. Telemarketers must update their copy of the list within 30 days after the start of each calendar quarter (C.R.S. 6-1-904(4)). The PUC warns that complaints or private legal actions may only be filed after that update period passes. A call the week after you register is probably not yet a violation.

What the Colorado No-Call List Act covers

The Colorado No-Call List Act, C.R.S. 6-1-901 to 6-1-908, took effect in 2001. Its definition of “telephone solicitation” is unusually broad: “any voice, telefacsimile, graphic imaging, or data communication, including text messaging communication” sent over a phone line or wireless phone to encourage a purchase, rental, or investment (6-1-903(10)(a)). It applies whether the call comes from a live operator or from “automatic dialing and recorded message equipment” (6-1-903(10)(c)).

Under 6-1-904, anyone who makes telephone solicitations to Colorado residential or wireless subscribers:

• May not call or text a number whose owner added it and a ZIP code to the Colorado list.
• Must register with the state’s list agent and pay an annual fee of up to $500.
• May not knowingly block or get around your caller ID when its equipment can display its number.

Calls the law does not cover

The Act excludes six kinds of contact (6-1-903(10)(b)):

1. Calls you invited or gave permission for.
2. Calls from a company with an “established business relationship” with you. That means a relationship formed through a two-way communication, such as a purchase or application, that you have not ended and that existed within the last 18 months (6-1-903(7)).
3. Calls within 30 days after you contacted a business to ask about buying something, unless you told it to stop sooner.
4. Registered charities.
5. Calls urging support for or opposition to a candidate or ballot issue.
6. Political polls and opinion surveys.

Suing under Colorado law

A violation of the No-Call List Act “constitutes a deceptive trade practice” under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act and may be enforced under C.R.S. 6-1-113, the private action section (6-1-906(1)). Under 6-1-113, a consumer injured by a deceptive trade practice recovers the greater of:

• Actual damages, including prejudgment interest;
• $500; or
• Three times actual damages, if bad faith is proven by clear and convincing evidence.

The court also awards costs and reasonable attorney fees. Class actions are more limited: a certified class may recover actual damages, injunctive relief, and fees, but not the $500 minimum or trebling.

Two defenses matter. A company is not liable if it fully complied with the Act and had written procedures in place before the violation, or if the violation came from a transcription error by the list agent (6-1-906(2)). And the rule that the state cannot sue over fewer than three violations per month applies to state enforcement, not to your own claim.

How it stacks with the TCPA

A Colorado resident on both lists who gets repeat sales calls may have a state claim ($500 or actual damages, plus fees) and a federal TCPA do not call claim (up to $500 per violation, or up to $1,500 if willful or knowing, once there is more than one call in 12 months). The state statute expressly adds its remedies to “all other causes of action” (6-1-906(3)), and the TCPA does not preempt stricter state telephone solicitation rules. One difference: section 6-1-113 speaks of an actual or potential consumer who was injured, while the federal claim turns on calls to a registered number. Read how the federal do not call rule works, and our page on spam texts for text-specific issues.

When a Colorado claim is weak

If you registered in the last few weeks, the update window may not have closed. If you bought from the caller in the past 18 months, or asked it for a quote in the past 30 days, it is likely exempt. And political calls and polls are outside the Act altogether, though federal robocall rules may still apply to them.

What to do next in Colorado

Check that your number is on the Colorado list and the federal registry, and note the date you signed up for each. Then log each sales call or text after the next quarterly update window: date, time, number, company, and whether caller ID was blocked. File a complaint with the PUC line, and keep a copy. Use our call log guide to organize it, and see the state law hub for nearby states.