U.S. A2P Authority Index
Explore the sources behind U.S. commercial messaging requirements—from federal and state law to carrier policy, sender registration, industry guidance, and channel rules. The U.S. A2P Authority Index brings those layers together in source-linked fact sheets, with review status and limitations visible.
Coverage varies by authority and channel. A source may expressly address texts, apply only under particular conditions, or provide related context. The fact sheets distinguish those cases and identify unresolved questions.
Read each source’s applicability, review status, and limitations together. A listed source is not a completed substantive review.
Start with your program details
The A2P Authority Stack Preflight narrows this index to the authority layers that may matter for a particular program.
State and D.C. authority fact sheets
Choose a jurisdiction to review text-specific authorities, related state rules, source limitations, and coverage questions that remain unresolved.
National A2P authority layers
State law is only one part of the authority stack. These pages explain the federal, carrier, registration, industry, and channel layers that may apply across jurisdictions.
How to use the index
Use this index to explore source-linked authorities relevant to commercial messaging. State entries distinguish express text coverage, conditional applicability, adjacent rules and unresolved questions. Statutes, court decisions, carrier policy, registration requirements, guidance, and practitioner interpretation have different roles; a source listing does not make those roles interchangeable.
Read the applicability and review labels together
- Express coverage: the recorded source addresses text messages broadly or within a narrower activity.
- Conditional: relevance depends on the described facts, triggers, or exceptions.
- Adjacent or contextual: the source informs the program without establishing a general SMS rule.
- Unresolved: a material question remains open. Not assessed means the record has no completed applicability assessment; it is not an affirmative coverage finding.
Each record carries its available source references, scope, limitations, exceptions, and unresolved issues. A review disposition identifies what has actually been checked. A pinpoint check verifies a citation destination; it does not establish a completed substantive review. Many records have not yet been substantively reviewed.
Effective dates and operative-status dates describe the authority. Review dates describe a documented review. Dataset transformation and export-generation dates describe processing. They do not establish source freshness. Unknown dates remain unknown, and the dataset retains its draft publication status while review remains incomplete.
Read state and national layers together
Begin with the relevant state sheet, then compare its scope with the federal messaging law references and the carrier, registration, industry, and channel sheets listed above. Read each source's stated role and limitations before applying it to a program. The Preflight groups records from your selections; contextual and conditional results require further review, and an omitted record is not assurance of compliance.
To report a correction, email Justin with the fact-sheet URL, record identifier, relevant source pinpoint, and the issue. Do not include confidential program or customer information.
Methodology revised September 16, 2026. This is the methodology revision date, not a claim that all sources were reviewed on that date.
SMS marketing laws by state
For SMS marketing, begin with the relevant state fact sheets and read them alongside the national authority layers. A state source may expressly cover SMS or MMS, apply only under particular conditions, or provide related context. Follow each record's source links, review status, and limitations.
