The leading voice for excellence in public finance
The leading voice for excellence in public finance

NAST Commends Introduction of Unclaimed Property Bill, Returning Billions Back to Rightful Owners

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of State Treasurers, the nation’s leading advocate for responsible state treasury programs, released the following statement today in support of H.R. 5269, The Unclaimed Savings Bond Act.

Today, the U.S. Treasury Department owes an estimated $26 billion to owners of matured, unredeemed savings bonds. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the US have well-established unclaimed property programs, operated by their respective State Treasurers or program administrator. These state programs are ready, able, and determined to reunite this money with its rightful owners.

To begin the process of returning the bonds to their rightful owner, it is necessary for the US Treasury to provide individual states with proper owner information. If given access to these records, states will be able to list the bonds in their established unclaimed property databases allowing them to make the strongest impact on the effort to reunite bond owners with their lost bonds.

The legislation was introduced on the House floor by Rep. Estes (R-KS) and co-sponsored by William Timmons (R-SC), Danny Davis (D-IL), Jason Smith (R-MO), Ben McAdams (D-UT), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL), would allow states access to the federal government’s unclaimed savings bond information, empowering states to lead the charge in the unification process to substantially increase the amount of  unclaimed property returned to everyday Americans. NAST applauds Rep. McAdams for introducing the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act and urges Congress to do the right thing and swiftly pass this proposed legislation into law.

Click here to learn more about unclaimed property in the US.