Directs the Office of the New York State Comptroller to conduct a study on the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed funds held by such office to the rightful owners of such funds; requires a report of its findings and legislative recommendations.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9387
SPONSOR: Thiele TITLE OF BILL:
An act to direct the Office of the New York State Comptroller to conduct
a study on the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed funds
held by such office to the rightful owners of such funds and to deliver
a report of its findings
PURPOSE:
To direct Office of the New York State Comptroller to conduct a study on
the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed funds and deliver a
report to the governor and legislature.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 (a) Directs the Office of the New York State Comptroller to
conduct a study on the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed
funds to their rightful owners.
(b) No later than January 1, 2025 the Office of the New York State Comp-
troller shall deliver a report of its findings to the'governor and
legislature. The report shall include the results of the study and
recommendations for any legislative action that would be required to
make unclaimed funds automatically returned to their rightful owner.
Section 2 states the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
As more states move to return unclaimed funds to their residents auto-
matically, New York must take action to.do the same.
According to a recent Newsday op-ed only 41r of unclaimed funds are
returned in New York compared to 62V. in Illinois and 92-, in Wiscon-
sin,} New Yorkers deserve a more straightforward process to have their
money returned.
This legislation would require the Office of the New York State Comp-
troller to conduct a study on the feasibility of automatically returning
unclaimed funds and make recommendation on legislative action needed to
do so.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9387
IN ASSEMBLY
March 6, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to direct the Office of the New York State Comptroller to conduct
a study on the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed funds
held by such office to the rightful owners of such funds and to deliv-
er a report of its findings
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. (a) The Office of the New York State Comptroller shall
2 conduct a study on the feasibility of automatically returning unclaimed
3 funds held by such office to the rightful owners of such funds imme-
4 diately upon receipt of the funds by the comptroller's office and with-
5 out having the rightful owner of the funds apply for their return. The
6 study shall include the potential automatic return of unclaimed funds
7 currently held by the comptroller's office and such funds received by
8 the office in the future.
9 (b) No later than January 1, 2025, the Office of the New York State
10 Comptroller shall deliver a report of its findings to the Governor, the
11 Temporary President of the Senate, the minority leader of the Senate,
12 the Speaker of the Assembly and the minority leader of the Assembly.
13 Such report shall include the results of the study and recommendations
14 for any legislative action that would be required to make unclaimed
15 funds automatically returned to the rightful owner of the funds.
16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13036-01-3
