Posted on Wednesday, 29th June 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Please be advised that on Friday, June 17, 2011, the Governor of Texas signed HB 257 into law, making changes to the dormancy period for certain banking products and utility deposits and dramatically changing the Texas unclaimed property reporting structure timeline. The following summarizes the new changes in the Texas laws:

Dormancy Reductions:

1) The dormancy period for checking/savings accounts and matured CDs has been reduced from five years to three years.

2) The dormancy period for money orders has been reduced from seven years to three years.

3) The dormancy period for utility deposits (defined as a refundable money deposit that a utility requires a user of the utility service to pay as a condition of initiating the service) has been reduced from three years to 18 months.

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Posted on Wednesday, 1st June 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

As reported earlier, the New York State abandoned property laws changed recently when the Legislature passed its budget bill for 2011-2012 via Senate Bill 2811.

The bill includes multiple changes to the New York Abandoned Property Law that affect holders required to file with New York for the next reporting cycle.   The New State Comptroller’s Office of Unclaimed Funds has also added an alert to its website summarizing the recent changes.

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Posted on Thursday, 14th April 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

We’ve seen the word “escheatment” achieve a new level of notoriety over the past several months, and it’s largely due to the recent wave of unclaimed property penalties and notices that have been sent out by the State of California Controller’s office.

These interest assessment notices are the result of a recent internal review by the Controller’s office to identify “past due” property that had been reported and was included on the unclaimed property reports filed since 2007. Read More »

Posted on Thursday, 3rd March 2011 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Faced with a massive budget shortfall and a no-new-taxes sentiment, Texas lawmakers are considering several options to generate revenue; one major option is unclaimed property reporting.  A recent San Antonio Express article titled “Lawmakers try to soften cuts,” outlines some ways Texas plans to try to protect the state budget without violating the no-new-taxes pledge. The options include deferring billions in state payments, speeding up tax collections, offering amnesty on penalties to laggard taxpayers and shortening dormancy periods for some types of unclaimed property.

Some of these measures have already been filed and others should take shape prior to the March 11th bill-filing deadline.  In the next several weeks, the House Ways and Means Committee will be holding hearings on proposals including House Bill 257, which could potentially produce $72 million by shortening dormancy periods for unclaimed property such as utility deposits, money orders, and certain types of bank accounts.

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Posted on Friday, 12th November 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

As states become more aggressive with abandoned property laws and guidelines, they continue to make changes to legislation in an effort to generate more revenue. On September 30, Tennessee proposed new administrative rules for unclaimed property that if passed will directly affect businesses operating in the state.

The proposed changes apply to Organizations and Individuals Required to Report, Reporting Forms, Alternative Reporting Forms Accepted by the State and Agreements Relative to Unclaimed Property.

Organizations and Individuals Required to Report: The current rule for organizations and individuals states that business employing less than 25 employees do not have to report unclaimed property. The proposed rule would delete this exception making it mandatory for all businesses in the state to report this information. Read More »

Posted on Thursday, 4th November 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

With reporting deadlines occurring at the end of this month, we are constantly keeping abreast of issues involving unclaimed property and dormant accounts—even ones occurring outside the United States. A recent article caught our attention from CaymanNewsService titled “Law fundamentally ‘flawed’” as it raised some unclaimed property law issues that have and continue to occur state side. Read More »

Posted on Friday, 20th August 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

HAWAII GIFT CARD ESCHEATMENT

HB 2289
Introduced 1/22/2010, Passed 7/7/2010, Effective 7/7/2010
In order to comply with the Federal Credit Card Accountability Act of 2009, Hawaii amended its existing statute concerning gift certificates by extending the minimum expiration period for gift certificates from two to five years; limiting the imposition of issuance or activation fees; amending the definition of "gift certificate;" defining "service fee" to exclude activation or issuance fees. Read More »

Posted on Friday, 16th July 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

Recent legislative, regulatory and legal developments that occurred during the month of June 2010 in the areas of state unclaimed property law and regulation are summarized below, by state and by topic:

Unclaimed Property Reporting Laws: State By State Changes

Delaware Unclaimed Property Reporting

SB 272

Introduced 5/13/10, Passed Senate 6/22/2010, Passed House 6/29/2010.

Section 1 of the Act provides for an administrative review process at the conclusion of an unclaimed property examination. This review process may be invoked at the option of the unclaimed property holder. It will allow the holder to file a written protest, submit additional information in support of the protest and request that the Audit Manager reconsider the Department’s findings following an examination.

Section 2 of the Act creates a limited exemption from the definition of property for abandoned property purposes that arises from transactions between merchants covered by the Uniform Commercial Code where, for whatever reason, a merchant holder receives goods for which the holder was never invoiced by the seller. Read More »

Posted on Tuesday, 25th May 2010 by Keane Unclaimed Property Team

State Dormancy Periods Regulations

Arizona Dormancy Periods

HB 2003, SB 1003
Introduced 12/17/09

 This bill proposes to change the dormancy period for traveler’s checks back to 15 years from 3 years.

HB 2111
Introduced 1/10/10, Engrossed 2/16/10

This bill proposes to change the dormancy period for traveler’s checks back to 15 years from 3 years.

AZ HB 2170
Introduced 1/13/10

Identifies the effective date of the chapters when initial reports were required to reported, as January 1, 2001.

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