Call Recording Consent Laws by State: One-Party vs. All-Party (All 50 States)

Every trades shop records something now. The phone system records inbound calls for training. The AI receptionist transcribes every booking. Techs pull out a phone when a homeowner starts arguing about the invoice. The van has a dash cam with a microphone. Each of those is a “recording of a communication” under state wiretap law, and in twelve states it’s a crime unless everyone being recorded agreed.

The federal rule and 35 states are one-party: if you’re on the call, you can record it. Twelve states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington) require all parties’ consent, which in practice means an announcement at the start. Four more (Michigan, Oregon, Hawaii, Vermont) have wrinkles that trip up businesses. And since 2024 the plaintiffs’ bar has figured out that the software vendor recording or transcribing your calls can be a third-party eavesdropper even when you yourself are a party, which is how AI note-taker companies ended up as defendants.

This guide gives the rule, the statute and the penalty in all 50 states and DC, then the practical policy for a shop with dispatchers, techs and an AI assistant. Statutes are current as of November 2026; no state changed its consent rule in 2025 or 2026, but the litigation around AI transcription moved fast.

Quick answer: 12 states require all-party consent to record a phone call: California, Connecticut (civil), Delaware (treat as such), Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. Oregon is one-party for phones but all-party in person; Michigan reads all-party but courts allow participants to record; Hawaii bars devices in private places; Vermont has no statute. The other 35 states and DC are one-party. A recorded “this call may be recorded” announcement at the start of every call satisfies every state, and the stricter state’s law applies when the caller is elsewhere.

One-Party vs. All-Party, in Plain English

The federal Wiretap Act (18 U.S.C. § 2511) makes it a felony to intercept a phone call or private conversation unless at least one participant consents. Since you consent to your own recordings, federal law lets you record any call you’re on. Thirty-five states and DC copied that rule. Twelve states went further and require every participant’s consent, and because the stricter law controls when a call crosses state lines, a shop in a one-party state that takes a call from an all-party state is bound by the all-party rule for that call.

Three things make this manageable:

Consent is notice plus continuing. In every all-party state, a caller who hears “this call is recorded” and keeps talking has consented. Massachusetts requires that they actually hear it (not just that it’s in a policy somewhere), and Connecticut, Montana and Washington want the announcement captured in the recording itself. An IVR greeting that plays before the dispatcher picks up does all of that.
“Party” means a human participant, or a business acting through one. Your dispatcher is a party. Your company, recording the dispatcher’s line, is a party through its employee in most states, as long as the employee knows. A software vendor that records, stores and uses the audio for its own purposes is a third party, which is the theory behind the 2024–2026 CIPA and Wiretap Act suits against chat widgets, call-analytics tools and AI note-takers.
Recording a call you’re not on is a felony almost everywhere. That includes an owner secretly recording employees’ personal calls, or recording a competitor. Penalties in one-party states (Texas 2 to 20 years, Louisiana up to 10) are often harsher than in all-party states.

The 12 All-Party States

State	What needs all-party consent	Exposure	Notes
California	Any confidential call; every cell/cordless call (§ 632.7)	$5,000 per violation civil; up to 1 year	Applies to out-of-state callers to Californians
Connecticut	Telephone calls (civil statute)	Civil damages + fees	Verbal notice or 15-second tone satisfies it
Delaware	Private conversations (privacy statute)	Class A misdemeanor / class F felony	Statutes conflict; treat as all-party
Florida	Wire, oral, electronic with privacy expectation	3rd-degree felony; $1,000 or $100/day civil	Business-extension exception for listening, not recording
Illinois	Private conversations (expectation of privacy)	Class 4 felony; civil damages	BIPA also covers voiceprints
Maryland	Wire and oral	Felony up to 5 years; civil	Recordings inadmissible if illegal
Massachusetts	Any secret recording, no privacy test	Up to 5 years; $1,000 or $100/day civil	Actual knowledge required
Montana	Conversations without knowledge of all parties	Misdemeanor	Knowledge, not formal consent
Nevada	Telephone calls (in-person is one-party)	Category D felony; $1,000 or $100/day	Lane v. Allstate (1998)
New Hampshire	Telecommunication or oral	Class B felony (misdemeanor for participant)	$1,000 or $100/day civil
Pennsylvania	Wire, electronic, oral	3rd-degree felony; $1,000 or $100/day	Business lines covered by notice (2012)
Washington	Private conversations and calls	Gross misdemeanor; $100/day to $1,000	Recorded announcement = consent

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The Four States With a Wrinkle

State	The wrinkle	What to do
Michigan	Statute says all parties; Sullivan v. Gray lets a participant record	Announce anyway; employer recording isn’t a participant
Oregon	Phone one-party; in-person all-party (must specifically inform)	Body cams and door conversations need a verbal notice
Hawaii	One-party, but no recording device in a private place without everyone’s consent	Don’t leave a recorder running inside a home
Vermont	No statute; federal one-party default; in-home secret recording unconstitutional (Geraw)	Treat the customer’s home as all-party

A Recording Policy for a Trades Shop

A service business records in seven places. The compliant practice for each is the same in every state, which is the point: one policy, no state-by-state exceptions to remember.

Situation	Compliant practice	Why
Inbound calls to the office (dispatcher or IVR)	Announcement in the greeting, before the recording starts	Covers all 50 states; the announcement must be in the recording in CT, WA, MT
Outbound calls by dispatchers	Announce at the top of the call, or disable recording on outbound	One-party states: optional; all-party states: required
AI phone receptionist / AI note-taker	Vendor plays the disclosure before transcribing; vendor contract bars training on your audio	Vendor can be a third-party eavesdropper (Otter.AI, 2026) even where you’re a party
Tech’s cell phone, recording a customer at the door	Say “I’m going to record this so we both have it” and get a yes	Felony in FL/MD/MA/PA/IL/NH/MT/CA/WA/OR without it
Body cams and dash cams with audio	Video-only in all-party states, or verbal notice every visit	Vans with two employees: both consent
Recording employees’ calls for QA	Written notice in the handbook, signed; posted notice in NY (§ 52-c)	Texas $10,000 per call if you skip it; Michigan participant rule doesn’t help the employer
Customer in another state	Apply the stricter of the two states	California’s Kearney rule follows the Californian

Two more rules that save money. First, retention: a recording you no longer need is pure liability (it’s discoverable in a lawsuit, and in Illinois, Texas and Washington a stored voiceprint can be a biometric). Thirty to ninety days is plenty for training and dispute resolution. Second, who can listen: limit playback to managers, and log it. An employee who pulls a recording of a customer for a personal reason has created a privacy claim against you in any state.

AI Receptionists, Note-Takers and the 2026 Lawsuits

What changed: Consent statutes didn’t move, but who counts as an eavesdropper did. In In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation (N.D. Cal., 2026) the court let CIPA and federal Wiretap Act claims proceed against an AI note-taker on the theory that the vendor, not just the account holder, was recording the conversation and using it for its own purposes (training models), so the account holder’s consent didn’t cover it. A similar suit was filed against Granola in July 2026. For a trades shop, the lesson is: the AI receptionist or transcription tool has to disclose itself to the caller before it starts, and your contract with the vendor should bar it from training on or reusing your customers’ audio.

The same theory has been used against website chat widgets and session-replay tools under California’s § 631 and § 638.51 (the “pen register” provision), Florida’s Security of Communications Act, Pennsylvania’s Wiretap Act (Popa) and Washington’s Privacy Act. Most of those claims fail or settle small, but the defense costs are real. If your website has a chat bubble that records transcripts, put a one-line disclosure in the chat window; if your phone AI greets callers, make sure the greeting says it’s recording and transcribing. The announcement that satisfies the twelve all-party states also defeats most of these suits.

State-by-State Breakdown

Red chips mark all-party consent states; amber the four with a wrinkle; grey the one-party states. Every block links the statute and gives the penalty for the thing that actually gets people prosecuted: recording a conversation you’re not part of.

Jump to your state

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

Alabama One-Party Consent

Statute: Ala. Code § 13A-11-30, -31

Rule: One-party consent. If you (or your dispatcher, or your AI receptionist acting for your business) are a party to the call, you can record it without telling the other side. In-person conversations follow the same rule.

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Criminal eavesdropping is a Class A misdemeanor (up to a year in jail). Alabama also bars installing a device to overhear conversations in a private place without consent.

Trades note: Still announce recording on inbound calls. Alabama customers calling from Florida (all-party) are a real exposure for Gulf Coast shops.

Alaska One-Party Consent

Statute: AS 42.20.310

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Misdemeanor eavesdropping. Alaska courts have read a privacy right into the state constitution, so secret recording by a non-participant is treated seriously.

Arizona One-Party Consent

Statute: A.R.S. § 13-3005, 13-3012

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Unlawful interception is a class 5 felony. The statute’s one-party exception covers a “party to the communication” and anyone with a party’s consent, which includes an employer recording its own business lines.

Trades note: Arizona’s big residential markets share a border with California, and a Phoenix shop that records a call from a Blythe or Needles customer is on the California side of that line.

Arkansas One-Party Consent

Statute: Ark. Code § 5-60-120

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class A misdemeanor to intercept a call you’re not a party to.

California All-Party Consent

Statute: Cal. Penal Code § 632, 632.7, 637.2 (CIPA)

Rule: All-party consent for any confidential communication, and for every call involving a cellular or cordless phone under § 632.7 regardless of confidentiality. Consent means notice at the start of the call (a “this call is recorded” announcement or beep) and the caller continuing; Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney (2006) applies California law to an out-of-state business recording a call with a Californian.

Penalties: Up to a year in jail and $2,500 per violation ($10,000 for repeat offenders); civil damages of $5,000 per violation or three times actual damages under § 637.2, with no proof of harm required. CIPA class actions are a cottage industry: call-recording cases settle in eight figures, and since 2024 plaintiffs have targeted website chat widgets, call-analytics vendors and AI note-takers (In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, N.D. Cal. 2026) as third-party eavesdroppers.

Trades note: Record nothing (inbound, outbound, tech cell phones, AI receptionist, body cam) without an announcement. If your phone system or AI assistant stores or trains on the audio, the vendor needs to be covered too. See California employment laws for trade employers for the employee-monitoring side.

Colorado One-Party Consent

Statute: C.R.S. § 18-9-303, -304

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Wiretapping by a non-party is a class 6 felony; eavesdropping on an in-person conversation a class 1 misdemeanor.

Connecticut All-Party (Civil) for Phone Calls

Statute: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-570d; § 53a-187 to -189

Rule: Criminally, Connecticut is one-party. But § 52-570d makes it a civil violation for anyone to record a telephone call without either written consent of all parties, verbal notification recorded at the start of the call, or an automatic tone every 15 seconds. Businesses treat it as all-party for phone recording; in-person conversations stay one-party.

Penalties: Civil damages, costs and attorney fees to the person recorded. Non-participant eavesdropping is a class D felony.

Trades note: The verbal-notice option is the easy one: a recorded greeting that says the call is recorded, kept in the recording itself, satisfies the statute.

Delaware All-Party (Treat as Such)

Statute: 11 Del. C. § 2402; § 1335(a)(4)

Rule: Delaware’s wiretap act (§ 2402) is one-party, but its privacy statute (§ 1335(a)(4)) makes it a crime to intercept a private conversation without the consent of all parties. The two have never been reconciled by the state supreme court, so every compliance guide tells businesses to treat Delaware as all-party.

Penalties: Wiretap violations are class F felonies; the privacy violation is a class A misdemeanor. Civil remedies under § 2409.

District of Columbia One-Party Consent

Statute: D.C. Code § 23-542

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Up to 5 years and $10,000 for intercepting a communication you’re not a party to; civil damages under § 23-554.

Trades note: DC is one-party but Maryland next door is all-party, and most DC-area shops serve both. Run the announcement on every line.

Florida All-Party Consent

Statute: Fla. Stat. § 934.03, 934.10

Rule: All-party consent for wire, oral and electronic communications where there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy, which covers nearly every business phone call. The “business extension” exception lets an employer listen in on its own lines in the ordinary course of business, but not record customers without notice.

Penalties: Third-degree felony (up to 5 years and $5,000), plus civil liability under § 934.10 of $100 a day or $1,000, whichever is greater, with punitive damages and attorney fees. Florida’s Security of Communications Act is also a favorite of class-action plaintiffs against website chat and session-replay tools.

Trades note: Techs who record a dispute with a homeowner on their phone at the door are committing a felony unless the homeowner agreed. Train crews: announce or don’t record.

Georgia One-Party Consent

Statute: O.C.G.A. § 16-11-62, -66

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, 1 to 5 years, for a non-party intercepting a call or recording a private conversation; § 16-11-66 expressly allows a party to record.

Trades note: Georgia bars secretly recording video in a private place without consent, which matters for body cams inside homes even though audio is one-party.

Hawaii One-Party, Device Exception

Statute: HRS § 803-42; § 711-1111

Rule: One-party consent for phone calls and conversations you take part in. But § 711-1111 makes it a privacy violation to install or use a recording device in a private place without the consent of everyone entitled to privacy there, so a tech leaving a recorder running inside a customer’s home, or a shop recording its break room, needs all-party consent.

Penalties: Unlawful interception is a class C felony; the privacy violation a misdemeanor.

Idaho One-Party Consent

Statute: Idaho Code § 18-6702

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years and $5,000, for a non-party; civil damages under § 18-6709.

Illinois All-Party (Private Conversations)

Statute: 720 ILCS 5/14-2, 14-4, 14-6

Rule: After the Illinois Supreme Court struck the old blanket law in 2014, the rewritten statute requires all-party consent to record any private conversation, meaning one where a party reasonably expects it’s not being recorded. A business phone call qualifies. Conversations with no privacy expectation (a loud argument on a jobsite) don’t.

Penalties: Class 4 felony for a first offense (1 to 3 years), class 3 for repeats; civil damages under 14-6. Separately, Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act treats voiceprints as biometrics, so call-analytics or AI tools that identify speakers by voice need BIPA written consent too.

Trades note: Chicago-area shops using AI receptionists: the vendor’s disclosure has to run before the recording starts, not buried in a website policy.

Indiana One-Party Consent

Statute: Ind. Code § 35-31.5-2-176; 35-33.5-5-5

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Unlawful interception is a Level 5 felony; civil action under § 35-33.5-5-4.

Iowa One-Party Consent

Statute: Iowa Code § 727.8; ch. 808B

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Serious misdemeanor under § 727.8; interception under ch. 808B is a class D felony with civil damages.

Kansas One-Party Consent

Statute: K.S.A. § 21-6101(a)(1)

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Eavesdropping by a non-party is a class A nonperson misdemeanor.

Kentucky One-Party Consent

Statute: KRS § 526.010, 526.020

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Eavesdropping is a Class D felony (1 to 5 years).

Louisiana One-Party Consent

Statute: La. R.S. 15:1303

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Harshest one-party state: unlawful interception carries up to 10 years and $10,000, plus civil damages under 15:1312.

Maine One-Party Consent

Statute: 15 M.R.S. § 709, 710

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class C crime (up to 5 years) for a non-party intercepting a call.

Maryland All-Party Consent

Statute: Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 10-402, 10-410

Rule: All-party consent for wire and oral communications; Maryland is the state that made Linda Tripp famous. Consent requires that the other party actually know they’re being recorded, which an announcement at the start of the call provides.

Penalties: Felony, up to 5 years and $10,000; civil damages under § 10-410 (actual damages, punitive damages, attorney fees). Illegally recorded calls are inadmissible in court, so a secret recording can’t even be used to win the billing dispute it was made for.

Trades note: Montgomery and Prince George’s County shops working across the DC line: DC is one-party, Maryland isn’t. The Maryland rule travels with the Maryland caller.

Massachusetts All-Party (No Secret Recording)

Statute: M.G.L. c. 272, § 99

Rule: The strictest in the country: it’s a crime to secretly record any oral or wire communication, period, with no reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test. Courts require actual knowledge by everyone recorded, not implied consent from a website policy, so the announcement must be audible at the start of each call.

Penalties: Up to 5 years in state prison and $10,000; civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 (whichever is greater), punitive damages and attorney fees.

Trades note: Body cams and dash cams with audio inside a customer’s home or van are secret recordings unless everyone present is told. Massachusetts shops typically run video-only on body cams.

Michigan One-Party for Participants (Disputed)

Statute: MCL § 750.539c, 750.539h

Rule: The statute reads like all-party (“without the consent of all parties”), but the Michigan Court of Appeals held in Sullivan v. Gray (1982) that a participant may record a conversation; only third-party eavesdropping is barred. Federal courts in Michigan have followed it, but the state supreme court never has, so cautious businesses announce anyway.

Penalties: Felony, up to 2 years and $2,000; civil damages and injunctions under § 750.539h. Michigan also criminalizes installing a device in a private place without consent.

Trades note: An employer recording its dispatchers’ calls is not a participant, so the one-party argument doesn’t protect company-wide call recording; the announcement (or employee written consent) does.

Minnesota One-Party Consent

Statute: Minn. Stat. § 626A.02

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years and $20,000, for a non-party; civil damages under § 626A.13.

Mississippi One-Party Consent

Statute: Miss. Code § 41-29-531

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Unlawful interception by a non-party is a felony, up to 5 years.

Missouri One-Party Consent

Statute: RSMo § 542.402

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class E felony for a non-party; civil damages under § 542.418.

Montana All-Party Consent

Statute: MCA § 45-8-213

Rule: Recording a conversation without the knowledge of all parties is a privacy-in-communications offense. Knowledge, not formal consent, is the standard, so an announcement at the start of the call is enough. Exceptions cover public officials performing duties, and warnings given to callers.

Penalties: Misdemeanor, up to 6 months and $500 for a first offense; a second within 5 years carries up to 1 year and $1,000. Lighter than most, but still a crime.

Nebraska One-Party Consent

Statute: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 86-290

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class IV felony for a non-party; civil remedies under § 86-297.

Nevada All-Party for Phone Calls

Statute: NRS 200.620, 200.650, 200.690

Rule: The Nevada Supreme Court read NRS 200.620 to require consent of all parties to record a telephone call (Lane v. Allstate, 1998), even though in-person conversations are one-party under 200.650. So: announce on every call; a tech’s in-person recording at the door is lawful if the tech is part of the conversation.

Penalties: Category D felony (1 to 4 years) and a fine up to $5,000; civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 (whichever is greater) plus punitive damages and fees under 200.690.

Trades note: Las Vegas shops taking calls from Arizona and Utah customers (both one-party) still must apply Nevada’s rule to their own end of the call.

New Hampshire All-Party Consent

Statute: RSA 570-A:2, 570-A:11

Rule: All-party consent for any telecommunication or oral communication. New Hampshire reduced the charge for a participant who records without consent to a misdemeanor in 2006, but it’s still a crime.

Penalties: Class B felony for a non-participant; class A misdemeanor for a participant; civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 plus punitive damages and fees under 570-A:11.

New Jersey One-Party Consent

Statute: N.J.S.A. 2A:156A-3, -4, -24

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Third-degree crime (3 to 5 years) for a non-party; civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 plus punitive damages and fees.

Trades note: New Jersey is one-party but Pennsylvania across the river is all-party; Philadelphia-metro shops run one policy for both.

New Mexico One-Party Consent

Statute: NMSA § 30-12-1

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Misdemeanor for a non-party intercepting a call; civil action under § 30-12-11.

New York One-Party Consent

Statute: N.Y. Penal Law § 250.00, 250.05

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Eavesdropping is a class E felony (up to 4 years). New York’s 2022 workplace monitoring law (Civil Rights Law § 52-c) separately requires written notice to employees, and a posted notice, before monitoring their calls, email or internet use.

Trades note: One-party for customer calls, but give every new hire the § 52-c electronic monitoring notice and get it signed if you record dispatcher lines.

North Carolina One-Party Consent

Statute: N.C.G.S. § 15A-287

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class H felony for a non-party; civil damages under § 15A-296.

North Dakota One-Party Consent

Statute: N.D.C.C. § 12.1-15-02

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class C felony for a non-party intercepting a call; class A misdemeanor for eavesdropping on an in-person conversation.

Ohio One-Party Consent

Statute: ORC § 2933.52

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Fourth-degree felony for a non-party; civil action under § 2933.65.

Oklahoma One-Party Consent

Statute: 13 O.S. § 176.4

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years and $5,000, for a non-party; civil remedies under § 176.6.

Oregon One-Party Phone / All-Party In Person

Statute: ORS 165.540; 133.739

Rule: Telephone calls are one-party: a participant can record. In-person conversations are the opposite: you must specifically inform every participant that the conversation is being recorded, with narrow exceptions (public meetings, felony in progress, and the 2015 exception for openly recording police). A tech recording a homeowner at the door on a phone is the in-person rule.

Penalties: Class A misdemeanor (up to 364 days and $6,250); civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000, punitive damages and fees under ORS 133.739.

Trades note: Body cams with audio inside Oregon homes need an explicit verbal notice every visit. Many Portland shops run audio off.

Pennsylvania All-Party Consent

Statute: 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703, 5704, 5725

Rule: All-party consent for wire, electronic and oral communications. Pennsylvania courts are aggressive about it: the Third Circuit in Popa v. Harriet Carter Gifts (2022) applied the Wiretap Act to website session-replay software, and the same theory now reaches call-analytics and AI transcription vendors.

Penalties: Third-degree felony (up to 7 years and $15,000); civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 (whichever is greater), punitive damages and fees under § 5725.

Trades note: The 2012 amendment lets a business record calls to its own emergency or customer-service lines if it gives notice; your IVR greeting is that notice. Outbound calls by techs from cell phones have no such cover unless the tech announces.

Rhode Island One-Party Consent

Statute: R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-35-21

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years, for a non-party; civil remedies under § 12-5.1-13.

South Carolina One-Party Consent

Statute: S.C. Code § 17-30-20, -30

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years and $5,000, for a non-party; civil action under § 17-30-135.

South Dakota One-Party Consent

Statute: SDCL § 23A-35A-20

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class 5 felony for a non-party intercepting a call.

Tennessee One-Party Consent

Statute: Tenn. Code § 39-13-601

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class D felony for a non-party; civil damages under § 39-13-603.

Texas One-Party Consent

Statute: Tex. Penal Code § 16.02; Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 123.002

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Second-degree felony (2 to 20 years) for a non-party, one of the harshest in the country; civil liability of $10,000 per occurrence plus actual and punitive damages under CPRC 123.004.

Trades note: Texas is one-party, so a DFW shop can record its own lines freely. But the $10,000-per-call civil statute bites an employer that records employees’ personal calls on company phones without notice. Put recording in the handbook and the greeting. For the TDLR licensing side of running a Texas shop see our Texas startup guide.

Utah One-Party Consent

Statute: Utah Code § 77-23a-4

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Third-degree felony (up to 5 years) for a non-party; civil damages under § 77-23a-11.

Vermont No Statute (One-Party Default)

Statute: Vt. Stat. tit. 13 (no wiretap statute); State v. Geraw, 173 Vt. 350 (2002)

Rule: Vermont is the only state with no wiretap or eavesdropping statute, so the federal one-party rule applies by default. The Vermont Supreme Court has held that secret recording inside a person’s home violates the state constitution’s privacy guarantee (Geraw), which bears on techs recording homeowners in their kitchens.

Penalties: Federal law only (18 U.S.C. § 2511: up to 5 years; civil $10,000 minimum). Treat in-home recording as all-party.

Virginia One-Party Consent

Statute: Va. Code § 19.2-62, 19.2-69

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class 6 felony for a non-party; civil damages of $400 a day or $4,000 (whichever is greater) plus punitive damages and fees under § 19.2-69.

Trades note: Northern Virginia shops: DC is one-party, Maryland is all-party. Same announcement on every line is the only sane policy.

Washington All-Party, Announcement Counts

Statute: RCW 9.73.030, 9.73.060

Rule: All-party consent for private conversations and calls. RCW 9.73.030(3) deems consent given when one party announces to all others, in a reasonably effective manner, that the conversation is being recorded and the announcement is itself recorded. The standard IVR greeting satisfies it; a tech must say it out loud before hitting record.

Penalties: Gross misdemeanor; civil liability under 9.73.060 for actual damages plus $100 a day up to $1,000, and illegally recorded conversations are inadmissible.

Trades note: Washington’s Privacy Act is a frequent basis for class actions against software vendors that capture customer interactions. Seattle shops using AI phone assistants should confirm the vendor plays the announcement before the AI starts transcribing.

West Virginia One-Party Consent

Statute: W. Va. Code § 62-1D-3, 62-1D-12

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years and $10,000, for a non-party; civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 plus punitive damages and fees.

Wisconsin One-Party Consent

Statute: Wis. Stat. § 968.31

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Class H felony for a non-party; civil damages of $100 a day or $1,000 plus punitive damages and fees under § 968.31(2m). Wisconsin bars using a one-party recording in a civil case unless all parties consented.

Wyoming One-Party Consent

Statute: Wyo. Stat. § 7-3-702

Penalty for recording a call you’re not part of: Felony, up to 5 years and $10,000, for a non-party; civil remedies under § 7-3-710.

Statutes and leading cases current as of November 2026, compiled from state codes, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press recording guide and practitioner summaries. Penalties are maximums for a first offense unless noted. Consent law is applied by courts case by case; this guide is for operating a business, not a substitute for advice on a specific dispute.

Running the Business

The AI side: AI automation for trade shops covers what AI receptionists and dispatch assistants actually do with your calls; the most secure field service software covers where the recordings live.
Recording to win disputes: how to verify the tech did the job and handling bad Google reviews both involve evidence you’ll want to be lawful; the chargeback playbook covers what a card network will actually accept.
Employee monitoring: background checks and fair chance laws and paid sick leave laws are the other HR rules that vary by state; New York’s § 52-c monitoring notice belongs in the same onboarding packet.
Security and alarm shops: security and alarm installer licensing and access-control licensing cover the camera and audio side of installations, where the customer’s recording of their visitors raises the same consent questions.

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FAQ

Which states require all-party consent to record a phone call?

Twelve: California, Connecticut (by civil statute), Delaware (conflicting statutes; treated as all-party), Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. Oregon requires all-party consent for in-person conversations but not phone calls, and Michigan’s statute reads all-party even though courts let a participant record. The remaining 35 states, DC and federal law are one-party.

Is a ’this call may be recorded’ announcement enough?

Yes, in every state, as long as it plays before recording begins and the caller then continues. Washington’s statute says so explicitly; Connecticut and Montana accept recorded verbal notice; Massachusetts requires that the person actually hear it, which an audible greeting provides. The announcement should be captured in the recording itself so you can prove it later.

Can my technician record a homeowner who is arguing about the bill?

Only with the homeowner’s agreement in the all-party states (California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada for calls, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington) and in Oregon, where in-person recording requires specifically informing everyone. Secretly recording there is a felony in most of those states. In one-party states the tech, as a participant, may record. The practical rule for a multi-state shop: ask out loud, get a yes, then record.

Do I need employees’ consent to record their calls?

Yes, at least by notice. An employer recording its dispatcher’s line is not a party to the call, so it needs the dispatcher’s consent, which a signed handbook acknowledgment provides. New York additionally requires a written electronic-monitoring notice to each new hire and a posted notice (Civil Rights Law § 52-c). Never record employees’ personal calls without notice; Texas allows $10,000 per occurrence in civil damages for it even though Texas is one-party.

What if the customer is calling from another state?

Apply the stricter state’s law. California’s Supreme Court held in Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney (2006) that an out-of-state business recording a call with a California resident is bound by California’s all-party rule, and other all-party states take the same position. Since you can’t tell where a cell phone is, the only workable policy is to announce on every call.

Is an AI receptionist or AI note-taker covered by these laws?

Yes, and with an extra twist. The AI vendor is recording and transcribing too, and courts have let claims proceed against AI note-taker companies as third-party eavesdroppers when they use the audio for their own purposes, such as training models (In re Otter.AI Privacy Litigation, N.D. Cal. 2026). Make sure the AI discloses that the call is recorded and transcribed before it begins, and that your vendor contract bars it from reusing your customers’ audio.

What are the penalties for illegal call recording?

Criminal penalties range from a misdemeanor (Montana, Washington, Kansas) to serious felonies (Texas 2 to 20 years, Louisiana up to 10, Pennsylvania up to 7, Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts up to 5). Civil statutes in California ($5,000 per violation), Texas ($10,000 per occurrence), Virginia ($400 a day or $4,000), and about a dozen states ($100 a day or $1,000, plus punitive damages and attorney fees) are what drive class actions. Maryland, Washington and Wisconsin also bar illegal recordings from evidence.

Can I record body cam or dash cam audio in company vehicles?

Video is generally fine in a vehicle or public area; audio is a recorded conversation. In one-party states, a tech who is present and knows the camera is running is a consenting party. In all-party states and Oregon, everyone in the van or the room must know, so shops either run audio-only with notice stickers and signed acknowledgments from employees, or run video-only. Inside a customer’s home in Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii or Vermont, assume audio needs the customer’s explicit consent.

How long should a service business keep call recordings?

Thirty to ninety days unless a specific dispute requires longer. Recordings are discoverable in litigation and, in Illinois (BIPA), Texas (CUBI) and Washington, voice analytics that identify speakers can turn them into regulated biometric data. Limit playback access to managers and log who listened.

Did any state change its call recording law in 2025 or 2026?

No state changed its one-party or all-party rule. What changed is enforcement: courts in California, Pennsylvania, Florida and Washington have applied wiretap statutes to website chat tools, session-replay software, call-analytics vendors and AI note-takers, and Illinois BIPA voiceprint claims are growing. Vermont still has no wiretap statute, Michigan’s participant rule still rests on a 1982 appeals decision, and Delaware’s two statutes still conflict.

Bottom Line

Put a recorded announcement at the front of every phone line, including the AI one. Tell techs to ask before recording a customer, and to run body cams video-only in the all-party and in-person states. Put a monitoring notice in the employee handbook and have new hires sign it. Keep recordings 30 to 90 days. That policy is legal in all 51 jurisdictions, costs nothing, and makes the state-by-state table below something you read once instead of something you worry about.

And if a recording ever matters in a dispute, remember the Maryland and Washington rule that illegal recordings are inadmissible: the secret recording that would have won the argument is the one you can’t use.

Call Recording Consent Laws by State: One-Party vs. All-Party Rules for Trades Businesses

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