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HR8338119th CongressWALLET

SAFER Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Representative Liccardo, Sam T. [D-CA-16]

Introduced

Summary

Prevents premature escheatment of covered securities, digital assets, and investment accounts. This bill would set a federal baseline requiring custodians to confirm death or meet specified conditions before yielding custody and would preempt conflicting state escheat laws.

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  • Owners and beneficiaries: Would stop states from taking custody of covered assets unless a custodian completes death verification or other specified procedures. Applies to assets held or beneficially owned on or after enactment.
  • Custodians and custodial venues: Would require national banks, transfer agents, centralized digital-asset exchanges, and similar custodians to run death confirmations and annual or multi-year inactivity checks before escheat can occur.
  • States and escheat agencies: Would limit state power to escheat covered assets by preempting inconsistent state rules while preserving owners' rights to pursue remedies under state or federal law. Employee benefit plans governed by ERISA are excluded from the bill's coverage.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Protects investors from state escheat

If enacted, this bill would set a federal rule that stops custodians from turning covered assets over to States unless federal conditions are met. It would apply to assets you own on or after enactment unless custody already passed to a State. Covered assets would include securities, digital assets, and investment accounts, and custodians would include banks, transfer agents, and centralized digital-asset exchanges. The bill would exclude employee benefit plans covered by ERISA. It would block State laws that conflict with these federal rules and let custodians confirm death with a death certificate or other legal documents.

Regular death checks for retirement accounts

If enacted, financial institutions would compare records for retirement-age account holders with State or Federal death databases. The check would occur at the end of the five-year period after the institution last had contact and every five years after that. Retirement age is the age in IRC section 401(a)(9)(C)(v). This would help custodians identify deceased account holders and reach heirs or representatives sooner.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Liccardo, Sam T. [D-CA-16]

CA • D

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17]

    NY • R

    Sponsored 4/16/2026

  • Rep. Correa, J. Luis [D-CA-46]

    CA • D

    Sponsored 6/3/2026

  • Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5]

    NJ • D

    Sponsored 6/10/2026

  • Rep. Fitzgerald, Scott [R-WI-5]

    WI • R

    Sponsored 7/13/2026

  • Rep. Meuser, Daniel [R-PA-9]

    PA • R

    Sponsored 7/23/2026

  • Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27]

    FL • R

    Sponsored 7/23/2026

  • Rep. Sherman, Brad [D-CA-32]

    CA • D

    Sponsored 10/1/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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