April 2025 │ Legislation & Regulation Update
The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending April 11, 2025
ARKANSAS: Enacted SB 454 creating an Unclaimed Property Interest Fund to hold interest earned from investment of funds in the Unclaimed Property Proceeds Trust Fund and the Abandoned Mineral Proceeds Trust Fund. Monies in the Unclaimed Property Interest Trust Fund are to be used to reimburse the State Central Services Fund and to reimburse the Unclaimed Property Proceeds Trust Fund for any liabilities incurred as a result of insufficient funds.
MONTANA: Enacted HB 164 (1) providing a definition for “Payroll card”; (2) classifying a payroll card as a deposit account for purposes of abandonment period; (3) revising abandonment protocols for automatically renewable certificates of deposit; (4) revising general presumptions of abandonment to be the later of the date prescribed in law or the last indication of interest by the owner; (5) redefining indications of owner interest; (6) providing 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) setting forth requirements to be included in due diligence notices.
WASHINGTON: Enacted SB 5316 / HB 1127 (1) Providing for the abandonment of prearrangement funeral service contracts; (2) revising the definitions of “Insurance company” to clarify that it does not include governmental agencies that provide industrial insurance and revising “Virtual currency” to include cryptocurrency and providing a definition for “Internal revenue code”; (3) clarifying bonds that may be deemed abandoned are those not held by a government entity; (4) revising the abandonment periods for excess proceeds from six (6) months to one (1) year; (5) clarifying the abandonment of tax deferred retirement accounts; (6) clarifying an indication of owner interest includes activity directed by an owner in the account which property is held or in another account of the owner held by the same business association and / or financial organization; (7) revising reporting requirements; (8) reducing the value of property requiring due diligence to be sent from $75 or more to $50 or more; (9) requiring holders to provide three (3) months’ notice before ceasing interest payments or charging dormancy fees; (10) requiring the administrator to provide delivery instructions to holders where tangible property is held in a safe deposit box; (11) requiring liquidation of virtual currency 30 days prior to reporting and providing safeguards to holder and administrator from claims regarding liquidation; (12) allowing for refund of excess interest or penalties; (13) revising the enforceability of agreements to locate property; and (14) providing confidentiality provisions for correspondence related to examinations.
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending April 4, 2025
NORTH DAKOTA: Enacted HB 1149 providing that (1) virtual currency is deemed abandoned three (3) years after owner’s last indication of interest, and excess proceeds from sale of abandoned vehicles and excess proceeds from the sale of public or private property are abandoned pursuant to relevant law; (2) holders are required to retain records upon notice of receipt of participation in the voluntary disclosure program through the conclusion of the voluntary disclosure program; (3) a holder is required to liquidate virtual currency and remit the proceeds within thirty (30) days before filing its report and is indemnified from claims related to the liquidation; (4) the period of limitations is tolled upon the delivery of notice of authorization to voluntary disclose property; (5) the requirement that the state establish an automatic claims payment cap by rule is removed; (6) civil monetary judgments for which an execution order has been issued is an enforceable debt; (7) the administrator is authorized to direct a holder to voluntarily disclose property; and (8) confidentiality and security requirements for purposes of exchanging information with other state or foreign countries is eliminated.
SOUTH DAKOTA: Passed Senate Joint Resolution 505 putting forth to voters a constitutional amendment to create the trust fund for unclaimed property within state treasury.
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.