The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending January 31, 2025
ARIZONA: Introduced SB 1300 which (1) decreases the time for the department of revenue to approve or deny an unclaimed property claim to thirty (30) days after a claim is filed, and (2) requires the department of revenue to deliver property or pay claimant within thirty (30) days of filing the claim where the claim has been approved.
MARYLAND: Introduced HB 761 which (1) adds definitions for “Apparent owner” , “Indication of apparent owner interest in property”, “Record”, and “Virtual currency” (2) revises definition of “owner” to include an account holder of pension or retirement accounts, and amends the definition of “personal property” to expand the exclusion of gift certificates to include gift cards; (3) creates an address presumption for the beneficiary of a life insurance policy; (4) updates last activity to include accessing account or information related to account; (5) defines “death master file” and addresses death master file matches including mandatory annual death matching for life insurance policies; (6) creates a mail return requirement and clarifies reporting parameters for pension or retirement accounts; (7) provides a five (5) year abandonment period for virtual currency; (8) requires virtual currency to be liquidated 30 days prior to reporting and provides safeguards to the holder and administrator for such liquidation; (9) updates claim processing / approval requirements including the ability of the administrator to automatically pay claims for property valued at $5,000 or less where apparent owner is determined by the administrator to be the owner; (10) requires the administrator to issue payment within six (6) months of approving a claim; (11) requires administrator to withhold from payment certain government debts owed by the claimant; and (12) increases the time for which the administrator must act upon a claim to six (6) months and increases the timeline to bring a claim for inaction to one (1) year.
SOUTH DAKOTA: Introduced Senate Joint Resolution 505 to put forth to voters a constitutional amendment to create the trust fund for unclaimed property within state treasury.
SOUTH DAKOTA: Introduced SB 155 creating the trust fund for unclaimed property within state treasury for purposes of providing for the return of unclaimed property. Expenditures from the fund must be appropriated and net receipts shall be deposited into the general fund as prescribed.
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending January 24, 2025
ARIZONA: Introduced HB 2443 to revise the amount of unclaimed property money to be deposited to the Housing Trust Fund to fifty-five percent (55%) and requires the payment to the Housing Trust Fund to be made first.
ARIZONA: Introduced HB 2516 to establish the State Treasurer Administrative Fund for which monies from unclaimed property shall be deposited. The fund shall be administered by the Treasurer and shall be sued for the administrative costs of the Treasurer’s office. All monies remaining in the department of revenue administrative fund shall be transferred to the State Treasurer Administrative Fund.
ARIZONA: Introduced HB 2517 which (1) Prohibits the Department of Revenue from disclosing certain confidential information related to unclaimed property; (2) allows the Department of Revenue to disclose information to registered locators; (3) updating the definition of “Confidential Information”; (4) Revises requirements for locator agreements; and (5) provides a mechanism for locators to register and obtain unclaimed property account information.
NEBRASKA: Introduced LB 451 which provides for the transfer of monies from the Unclaimed Property Trust Fund to the Capitol Restoration Cash Fund and the permanent school fund at certain intervals and amounts.
OKLAHOMA: Introduced SB 999 which (1) Provides a definition for “Claimant” and “Claimant’s Representative”; (2) requires the State Treasurer to provide a copy of a will or trust contained in a safe-deposit box upon proof of death of testator or settlor to anyone making a request; (3) provides a mechanism for a claimant representative to file a claim and ultimately obtain payment on behalf of a claimant; (4) outlines the administrative hearing process for contesting claims; and (5) eliminates the limitation on claimant representative fees in certain instances.
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending January 17, 2025
ARIZONA: HB 2324. Introduced legislation that clarifies the director’s decision regarding abatement of interest is a final administrative decision.
MONTANA: HB 164. Introduced legislation that (1) provides a definition for “Payroll card”; (2) classifies a payroll card as a deposit account for purposes of abandonment period; (3) revises abandonment protocols for automatically renewable certificates of deposit; (4) revises general presumptions of abandonment to be the later of the date prescribed in law or the last indication of interest by the owner; (5) redefines most indications of owner interest; (6) provides the ability for a holder to only send due diligence notice by electronic mail where an owner has consented to receive electronic mail delivery; and (7) sets forth requirements to be included in due diligence notices.
NEBRASKA: LB 183. Introduced legislation that revises the requirements of annual notices to be provided by the Treasurer and provides limitations on finders’ fees.
TENNESSEE: HB 54. Introduced legislation that allows the Treasurer to submit the annual report regarding the total amount of unclaimed property electronically.
WASHINGTON: HB 1127. Introduced legislation that (1) provides for the abandonment of prearrangement funeral service contracts; (2) revises the definitions of “Insurance company” and “Virtual currency” and provides a definition for “Internal revenue code”; (3) clarifies bonds that may be deemed abandoned; (4) revises the abandonment periods for excess proceeds and gift certificates; (5) clarifies the abandonment of tax deferred retirement accounts; (6) revises reporting requirements; (7) revises due diligence requirements for property valued at $50 or more; (8) requires notice and provides dollar limits for dormancy charges; (9) requires liquidation of virtual currency and provides indemnification for liquidation; (10) allows for refund of excess interest or penalties; (11) revises the enforceability of agreements to locate property; and (12) provides confidentiality provisions for correspondence related to examinations.
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending January 10, 2025
NORTH DAKOTA: HB 1149. Introduced legislation that (1) provides express abandonment periods for virtual currency, excess proceeds from sale of abandoned vehicles and excess proceeds from the sale of public or private property; (2) requires a holder that is participating in the voluntary disclosure program to retain records until the conclusion of the voluntary disclosure process; (3) requires a holder to liquidate virtual currency within thirty (30) days before filing its report and provides indemnification for the holder and administrator from claims related to the liquidation; (4) tolls the period of limitations upon the delivery of notice of authorization to voluntary disclosure property; (5) eliminates the requirement that the state establish an automatic claims payment cap by rule; (6) includes civil monetary judgments for which an execution order has been issued as an enforceable debt; (7) allows the administrator to authorize a holder to voluntarily disclose property; and (8) eliminates confidentiality and security requirements for purposes of exchanging information with other state or foreign countries.
VIRGINIA: HB 1606/SB 922. Introduced legislation to allow the administrator to pay claims without the filing of a claim where (1) property is cash; (2) apparent owner is a natural person and sole owner; (3) identity has been verified; and (4) amount of property does not exceed $5,000.
VIRGINIA: HB 1640/SB 867. Introduced legislation that requires the administrator to conduct due diligence to determine the location of unclaimed property owners and provides the ability for the administrator to coordinate with the Tax Commissioner to obtain relevant tax information for purposes of determining location of unclaimed property owners.
With The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert Summary of Legislation and Regulation, you receive an overview of the latest information on unclaimed property legislative updates, regulatory changes, and statutory amendments across the United States and Canada. The publicly available information contained herein has been compiled by Kelmar Associates, LLC and does not constitute legal advice or analysis of any kind. The summary information is generally compiled on a weekly basis, as applicable, and is shared on Kelmar's website each month. For more information, please refer to each state unclaimed property bill.