GoHighLevel Agency for New York Businesses: 399-z-Ready Texting

New York Counts Texts as Telemarketing Under GBL 399-z

New York’s main telemarketing statute is section 399-z of the General Business Law. It defines telemarketing as a campaign that uses more than one telephone call or electronic messaging text by a telemarketer.

The statute then defines an electronic messaging text as a real-time or near real-time non-voice message sent over communications networks. That pulls SMS and similar instant messages into the same rules as a live sales call. You can read the current text of section 399-z on the New York State Senate’s website.

After a hearing, the Secretary of State can fine a telemarketer up to $20,000 for each violation. For any GoHighLevel agency New York companies bring in, that turns 399-z into a design input for the whole account rather than a footnote in the terms.

Section 399-z Requirements Mapped to GHL Settings

Most of 399-z translates into a handful of concrete account settings. This is the checklist our GoHighLevel agency New York team works through before a sub-account sends its first campaign.

The hours rule follows the customer, not your office. A Manhattan firm texting a lead who now lives in Phoenix has to respect Phoenix time, which is why contact-level timezones matter even for a single-zone state.

Inside a GoHighLevel Agency New York Account

The settings below are outcome-level descriptions of what we build. Your own wording, offers and pipelines sit on top of them.

• Consent wording on every entry point. Forms, surveys, calendar bookings and chat widgets carry SMS consent language that names your business, and the date and source of each opt-in stay on the contact.
• A clock that follows the contact. GoHighLevel can run workflow actions on the contact’s timezone and falls back to the account timezone when none is stored. We capture timezone at intake so the fallback rarely fires.
• A 399-z sending window. GHL’s time window holds texts, emails and calls that land outside the allowed hours and releases them at the next open slot. One window covers every selected day, so we set it to the stricter hours you choose.
• Stop requests that stick. Replies such as STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE switch on Do Not Disturb for SMS automatically. We extend spoken removal requests to the other channels so the seller’s list stays complete.
• Carrier approval. A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration with sample messages that match your real forms. If a campaign was already rejected, our GoHighLevel A2P help page covers how we fix it.

The SHIELD Act and the Customer Data in Your CRM

New York’s SHIELD Act was signed on July 25, 2019 and updated the state’s 2005 data breach law. The Attorney General’s SHIELD Act page says its safeguard duty applies to any person or business that maintains private information.

The Act widened what counts as private information to include biometric data and a username or email address combined with a password. It also treats unauthorized access to that data, not only theft of it, as a possible breach.

Businesses must keep administrative, technical and physical safeguards. The Attorney General lists failure to keep reasonable safeguards at up to $5,000 per violation. In a GoHighLevel agency New York build, that guidance turns into a few habits we set up with you:

• User access limited to the people and permissions each role really needs.
• Connected apps and integrations reviewed, with unused ones removed.
• No Social Security numbers, card numbers or passwords collected in open custom fields or form answers.
• A named person on your team who owns account security and staff training.

NYC Local Law 144 and AI-Assisted Hiring

Local Law 144 matters only if you hire in New York City with automated tools. It bars employers and employment agencies from using an automated employment decision tool unless the tool had a bias audit within the past year and a summary of the results is public.

Candidates and employees must also get notice before the tool is used. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection began enforcing the law on July 5, 2023.

A GHL hiring funnel that collects applications and books interviews is not, on its own, a scoring tool. If you plan to let AI rank or screen applicants, talk to counsel first. Our recruiting CRM page shows the hiring builds we do.

New York Industries, Metros and Remote Support

All of New York runs on Eastern time, so a single account timezone fits most local work. Empire State Development lists target industries that include financial services and insurance, biotech and life sciences, software and digital media, and television and film.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data puts education and health services first among the state’s job sectors, ahead of government and trade, transportation and utilities. Census Bureau estimates for 2025 rank Kings County, Brooklyn, as the ninth most populous county in the nation.

Our New York builds lean toward professional services, restaurants, real estate and healthcare, including the patient follow-up described on our medical practice CRM page. The upstate cities from Albany to Buffalo get the same setup as New York City.

GoHighLevel USA has no New York office and does not list one. We are a remote GoHighLevel agency New York clients reach by video call in Eastern time.

See every state we cover on our locations page, or compare the neighboring Connecticut setup, whose consent rules are stricter.

This is general information, not legal advice; confirm with counsel how 399-z, the SHIELD Act and Local Law 144 apply to your business. Last reviewed: October 15, 2026.

Working in the five boroughs? Our New York City GoHighLevel guide covers city-level rules such as automated hiring-tool audits and the local industry mix.