January 2025 │ Legislation & Regulation Update
The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert
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.