WashingtonSB 53162025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

Modifying provisions of the revised uniform unclaimed property act.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

19 provisions identified: 10 benefits, 2 costs, 7 mixed.

Veterans groups can safeguard unclaimed medals

Washington can place unclaimed military medals and decorations with a qualifying veterans organization for safekeeping. The organization must agree to hold them for their owners. Tax-code qualification is no longer tied only to the code version in effect on January 1, 2023.

More owners get unclaimed money notices

Businesses holding unclaimed property and Washington’s administrator must mail owner notices for values of $50 or more, down from $75. Businesses with a valid mailing address send notices 60–180 days before reporting; they also email consenting owners unless the address seems invalid. Reports must include available owner names, addresses, and Social Security or taxpayer numbers for items worth at least $5, down from $50. Items under $5 can be grouped, with names and addresses generally required only to process an active claim. Traveler’s checks, money orders, and similar instruments are exempt from the owner-information rule; Washington also maintains a public owner-search database with claim instructions.

Owners get protection from dormancy fees

A holder can deduct a dormancy fee only if a valid contract allows it after a stated period without a claim. The holder must regularly charge the fee and must not regularly reverse or cancel it. The fee cannot be grossly unfair, considering costs and services provided. Owners must get three months’ notice before the holder stops paying interest or starts charging dormancy fees.

Recovery services face tighter fee limits

Covered recovery agreements cannot enforce fees above 5% of the property value reasonably expected to be recovered. An agreement is void if any fee depends on minerals or mineral proceeds not yet presumed abandoned. Compensation agreements made within 24 months after property reaches the state are also void. Some owner-lawyer agreements have exceptions.

Storage customers get longer claim periods

Beginning July 27, 2025, excess money from a self-service storage sale becomes presumed abandoned one year after the sale. The old period was six months. People owed that money have longer to claim it from the facility before it becomes unclaimed property.

Restricted securities avoid unclaimed property transfers

A security is excluded from unclaimed-property rules while a recorded or legally imposed lien, hold, or restriction limits its handling. The restriction must limit receipt, transfer, sale, or another way of dealing with the security. Holders also lose the specific statutory duty to list nonfreely transferable securities and explain their restrictions in reports. The administrator can still require reporting information by rule. These changes do not cancel the owner’s interest in the security.

Workers get longer reimbursement claim periods

Beginning July 27, 2025, unpaid employee reimbursements no longer follow the one-year abandonment rule for wages and similar pay. They follow another applicable period instead. When no specific period applies, the reimbursement becomes presumed abandoned after three years.

Government industrial insurers leave insurer definition

Beginning July 27, 2025, the insurance-company definition refers to industrial insurance, including wage protection, rather than workers’ compensation insurance. Government agencies providing industrial insurance are excluded from that definition. This changes which providers fall under insurer-specific unclaimed-property rules, not workers’ benefit amounts.

Property holders get broader refund rights

Holders can recover money sent to Washington in error or after later paying someone reasonably believed entitled to it. They can request property delivered in error or claimed from them by its apparent owner; negotiable-instrument refunds require proof of presentation and payment. Complete applications are generally due six years after the end of the payment or delivery year. Timely incomplete applications allow 90 days after a deficiency notice to supply documents, and written waivers can extend the deadline. Allowed refunds include interest, carry no fee, and must receive a decision within 90 days or are treated as denied.

Property holders get enforcement time limits

Washington generally cannot issue a liability decision more than six years after a holder files a report meeting legal requirements. Fraud removes that six-year protection, and the parties can agree in a record to extend it. A separate 10-year limit runs from when the holder’s duty began. It bars new liability decisions, actions, proceedings, or examinations even when reports were missing, incomplete, or fraudulent.

Government-held bonds face shorter abandonment periods

Beginning July 27, 2025, the three-year rule for certain bonds applies only when a government entity does not hold them. Covered bonds include state or municipal bonds, bearer bonds, and original issue discount bonds. Government-held property follows its applicable rule, including one year after it becomes available for distribution. The change affects abandonment timing, not bond values or payment terms.

Businesses face earlier unclaimed property deadlines

Holders other than insurance companies must file and pay by October 31 instead of November 1. Their reports cover the 12 months ending June 30. Insurance companies must file and pay by April 30 instead of May 1. Insurer reports cover the previous calendar year.

Account activity helps preserve unclaimed balances

For stored-value cards other than payroll cards, the three-year clock starts from the latest listed event. These events include issuance, added funds, owner interest, and a balance check by or for the owner. Issuance and deposits use their actual dates, rather than December 31 of that year, which can start the clock earlier. Activity in another account at the same business or financial organization can also show interest in property. Qualifying activity includes checking account information or directing a change in the property held.

State changes unclaimed property delivery and sales

Washington can sell property presumed abandoned no earlier than two years after receiving it. For property outside safe-deposit boxes, this replaces the three-year minimum and allows earlier conversion to cash. The administrator loses express authority to sell securities on owner request before three years or before required sale notices. For reported safe-deposit items, the administrator must give delivery instructions. Those instructions replace the old rule barring delivery for 180 days after reporting.

Unclaimed funeral trusts move to Washington

Beginning July 27, 2025, Washington sets abandonment rules for prepaid funeral contracts funded through trusts. Proceeds become unclaimed three years after the earliest event: the beneficiary’s death, 107th birthday, or 50 years after signing. The trust must remain unpaid and unrefunded, and no beneficiary can be located during the required period. Washington contracts transfer the trust balance and earned income, minus deductions allowed by law; contracts signed elsewhere follow that state’s law. These rules apply to contracts signed before, on, or after the law’s effective date.

Retirement abandonment timing follows distribution ages

Qualifying retirement accounts use the owner’s federal required distribution age, when known, instead of a fixed age of 72. The applicable death-confirmation date can also affect abandonment timing. This applies to tax-deferred accounts whose owners must take distributions to avoid a tax penalty; Washington and local-government-created accounts are excluded. For the chapter generally, federal tax-code references use amendments through January 1, 2023. The Department of Revenue can set a later reference date by rule consistent with the law’s purpose.

Unclaimed cryptocurrency becomes cash before reporting

Virtual currency includes cryptocurrency used for exchange, accounting, or storing value without U.S.-recognized legal-tender status. The definition excludes transfer software and protocols, game content, loyalty cards, and gift certificates. Holders must sell unclaimed virtual currency within 30 days before filing their report and send the proceeds to Washington. Owners cannot recover later gains from either the holder or the state. Conversion to cash also avoids later losses in the currency’s value.

Unclaimed property audit records become confidential

Information obtained or shared through an examination of records is confidential while held by Washington’s administrator or its agent. The protection includes personal information and administrator messages to holders about past, current, pending, or possible examinations. These records are exempt from public inspection and disclosure.

Audit fees capped, advance demands removed

Unclaimed-property audit contracts can use fixed, hourly, or contingent fees. Contingent fees cannot exceed 10% of property paid or delivered because of the audit. Washington no longer must demand reports and property at least 60 days before assigning an audit contractor. Contracts must follow state purchasing rules, and contractors cannot be related to or owned by the administrator or related people. Anyone being audited can request the complete, unredacted contract.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Paul Harris
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

Bob Hasegawa
Democratic • Senate
Deborah Krishnadasan
Democratic • Senate
T'wina Nobles
Democratic • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 139 • No: 7

House vote • 3/31/2025

3rd Reading & Final Passage

Yes: 90 • No: 7 • Other: 1

Senate vote • 2/25/2025