RICHMOND, Va. — A WTKR News 3 investigation into how the Virginia Department of Treasury handles unclaimed property prompted lawmakers to make change.
Unclaimed property is defined in Virginia as "money, stocks, bonds, dividends, utility deposits, insurance proceeds, tangible property and more."
Now a new bill has passed the House and Senate after gaining overwhelming support.
watch previous coverage: Potential changes to law coming to Virginia's unclaimed property
The new bill, HB 1606, introduced by Del. Phil Hernandez, would allow the Department of Treasury to automatically send out checks to people who are owed $5,000 or less without them having to file a claim online.
Our investigation showed how many other states are already doing this.
Currently, if you have to search your name online, and file a claim with the Department of Treasury to get your money back.
Over a year ago, News 3 started investigatinghow the State Treasurer’s office handles unclaimed property and compared it to how other states return it to the rightful owners.
watch previous coverage: Virginia lawmakers push for unclaimed property reform
We were contacted by unclaimed property watchdog, Ron Lizzi, who requested we look into how the state was handling money owed back to the people.
Unclaimed property is usually money and could be old utility deposits, stocks, bond dividends, insurance proceeds. In very rare cases, it can be physical property. Companies are legally required to turn over unclaimed property to the Department of Treasury when they can’t find the rightful owner.
Del. Cliff Hayes introduced house bill 1640 that would have forced the state treasury to work with the tax commissioner to share information about people to help reunite their funds which is a practice done in some other states, but this bill died this session despite gaining a lot of support by many lawmakers.
watch previous coverage: State treasurer declines News 3 questions after unclaimed property meeting
I was in Richmond in January when delegates passed both bills almost unanimously.
After seeing our investigation into unclaimed property, Del. Hayes wanted to make changes to Virginia law.
"You got to reach out to the State and tell the State that you want your money, which is, I think, insane. If it belongs to the people, then we should be giving it back to the people. and we have means of finding folks," he said.
House Bill 1606 is called the Cash Now Act.
“If this does become a law, Virginians are going to stand to get a lot more of the money that already belongs to them in the form of unclaimed property back in their bank accounts so they don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops," said Del. Hernandez.
We sat down with leaders of the Unclaimed Property Division last April after we highlighted problems with people getting their unclaimed property. The treasurer’s office said they hired more people, set a record of paying out more than $83 million and were making changes to get people their money more effectively.
watch previous coverage: Unclaimed property generates millions for the state
A follow-up News 3 investigation revealed that they actually have $3.6 billion in public money – not the $2 billion that they had repeatedly told us. That total has now gone up to $3.8 billion dollars.
State Treasurer David Richardson previously told News 3 there was no way they could return the majority of the $3.8 billion because people are either dead or the state doesn’t have enough details about who they are.
January 28th Richardson, the Virginia State Treasurer issued the following statement:
Our thoughts on HB 1606, HB 1640 and SB 996 are below.
Virginia has made important reforms in the past two years to improve the efficiency of the unclaimed property process in Virginia. The implementation of a new best-in-class claims system used by over 30 states now permits owners to submit claims electronically. HB 1606, and its cognate SB 996, represent bipartisan legislation that will further support our ongoing efforts to improve Virginia’s unclaimed property processes. We appreciate both the recent House and Senate votes and look forward to the success of this consequential legislation this session.
Regarding HB 1640, we appreciate Delegate Hayes’ interest in unclaimed property and plan to continue collaborating with Tax to help us make our Unclaimed Property Division even more effective.
House Bill 1606 will now be sent to the governor for his approval. If he signs it, the law would take effect immediately instead of in July.
