Is Maine a one-party consent state?

Title 15, § 710 makes it a Class C crime to intentionally or knowingly intercept a wire or oral communication. § 709(4) defines intercepting as hearing or recording a communication by someone other than the sender or receiver, or a person given prior authority by the sender or receiver.

Maine is a one-party consent state, so the penalty applies to recording a call you are not a party to when neither the sender nor the receiver authorized it (tit. 15, § 709(4)). Interception is a Class C crime (§ 710(1)), punishable by up to 5 years in prison (tit. 17-A, § 1604) and a fine of up to $5,000 (tit. 17-A, § 1704). A party to the call can sue for actual damages of at least $100 for each day of violation, plus attorney fees (tit. 15, § 711). § 711 does not provide punitive damages.

A person may not use an AI chatbot, defined to include programs that simulate conversation by voice, to deal with a consumer in a way that may lead a reasonable consumer to think they are talking with a human, unless the consumer is told clearly and conspicuously that they are not (§ 1500-DD). A violation is a violation of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act. The law was enacted as P.L. 2025, c. 294.

Outbound calls that use an AI voice need the called party's prior express consent, unless the call is for an emergency or fits an FCC exemption. AI-voice calls that include telemarketing need prior express written consent. The FCC ruled in February 2024 (FCC 24-17) that an AI-generated voice is an artificial voice under the TCPA, so these calls must also identify the caller and, for telemarketing, offer a way to opt out.

Federal rules allow telemarketing calls from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the called party's local time. Some states set a shorter window, listed below when they do.

Maine bars solicitation calls made with an automated calling device or an artificial or prerecorded voice to residential numbers, cell phones, unlisted numbers and emergency lines in the state (§ 1498(2)). Exceptions include calls with the recipient's prior written express consent, replies to the person's own inquiry, and calls to a business about reservations, purchases or hours (§ 1498(6)). Automated solicitation calls may run only on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (§ 1498(3)).

A telephone solicitor may not make a sales call to a Maine consumer whose number has been on the national or state do-not-call registry for 3 months, and must check the FCC reassigned numbers database first (§ 1499-B(6)). The caller must give their real first and last name and the business they call for right away (§ 1499-B(7)). Misleading caller ID sent with intent to defraud or cause harm is an unfair trade practice under § 1499-A.