January 2026 │ Legislation & Regulation Update

The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert

Summary of Legislation — Week Ending January 9, 2026

ALABAMA: Introduced HB 104 which (1) provides a definition for “Digital Asset”, “Finder”, “Last Known Address”, and “Private Key”; (2) provides for a three (3) year abandonment period after the last activity by apparent owner; (3) for purposes of abandonment, defines “activity” as: (a) accessing an account; (b) responding to outreach by the holder; (c) conducting a transaction including deposits or withdrawals but excluding automated, recurring, or prescheduled debit or credit transactions; or (d) any other action that reasonably demonstrates to the holder that the apparent owner is aware the property exists; (4) requires that due diligence notice for abandoned securities, digital assets or contents of a safe deposit box informs the apparent owner that the property may be liquidated; (5) removes the requirement to publish notice of public sale in a newspaper of general circulation and clarifies that a public sale shall be preceded by a minimum of a single publication; (6) allows the State Treasurer to sell delivered digital assets upon receipt and if sold, requires digital assets listed on an established exchange to be sold at the list exchange price and requires all other digital assets to be sold over the counter at the prevailing price or by any reasonable method determined by the State Treasurer; (7) requires the holder of digital assets to report and deliver digital assets in native form where the holder has the private key, credential, or other information necessary to effectuate the transfer within 30 days of reporting; (8) allows the holder to maintain the digital asset until the holder acquires the information necessary to effectuate the transfer; (9) allows the State Treasurer to decline digital assets if it is determined that the digital asset is not freely transferable, is of nominal value, or has value less than the estimated expenses; (10) allows the State Treasurer to identify classes or types of digital assets that are exempt from reporting or liquidation; (11) allows the State Treasurer to direct a holder to liquidate the digital assets; (12) revises the requirements for locator agreements to: (a) include contact information for recovering the property, (b) state that the property may be recovered from the State Treasurer without payment of a fee, and (c) to state the compensation, commission, or other remuneration to be paid; (13) requires an unredacted copy of the locator agreement to be filed with any claims involving an agreement; and (14) prohibits the purchase, assignment, or conveyance of unclaimed property to a finder that results in a net fee, compensation, commission, remuneration, or other profit to a finder in excess of 10% of the amount collected.
 
NEBRASKA: Introduced LB 869 which (1) revises the annual notice requirement of the State Treasurer to require publication of general circulation; and (2) provides the ability, for purposes of meeting annual notice requirements, to publish a display ad that includes a description of how to search for unclaimed property if it covers at least 25% of a standard broadsheet.
 
NEW YORK: Introduced SB 3774 which requires notice by the Comptroller to include the ability to obtain large print copies of the unclaimed funds list and to comply with accessibility standards for the visually impaired.
 
VERMONT: Introduced H 567 which (1) revises the contents of reporting to include medical insurance policies and requires any explanation of benefit numbers to be provided; (2) increases the value of abandoned property to be transferred to the Retirement Security Fund to $150.00 dollars or less up to a maximum annual total of $300,000.00 and provides that any remaining funds be paid to the Vermont Higher Education Endowment Trust Fund; (3) increases the property value for claims that may be paid without filing of claim to less than $1,000; (4) increases the property value for closed estates to less than $10,000; and (5) increases the property value to $1,000 or less for claims that have multiple owners.
 
 
NEBRASKA: Re-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.
 
NEW YORK: Re-Introduced SB 994 which requires the State Comptroller to conduct a feasibility study on the automatic return of unclaimed property funds.
 
NEW YORK: Re-Introduced AB 3830 which requires land with unmet title revert to the Indian Nation or tribe that historically occupied the land, or to the nearest existing nation or tribe.
 
NEW YORK: Re-Introduced SB 4109 which extends the dormancy period from three (3) to five (5) years for property held by banking organizations and life insurance corporations.
 
NEW YORK: Re-Introduced AB 9053 which allows the Department of Taxation and Finance to share address information from the most recent tax return with the Office of the State Comptroller for purposes of returning unclaimed property.
   

Summary of Regulations — Week Ending January 9, 2026

OREGON Proposed regulations that (1) updates the information required on property claim forms;  (2)  updates the attachments required to be included with the filing of a property claim form; (3) clarifies which unredacted documents, including any unredacted contract, should be included with claims filed on behalf of a claimant; (4) adds a definition for “Digital Asset”; (5) revises the definition of “Intangible Property” to include digital asset; (6) revises the definition of “Positive Owner Contact” to be the same as “Owner Contact”; (6) updates the abandonment table to include digital assets; (7) revises Reporting Form and Format requirements to address subsidiaries and surplus foreclosure funds; (8) revises the Reporting and Delivery of Property section to: (a) allow a holder to request to aggregate property valued at $15.00 or less; (b) outline requirements for holders of surplus foreclosure funds; and (c) outline requirements for intangible equity ownership property; and (9) clarifies assessment of interest and other participation requirements related to the Voluntary Disclosure Program.

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.