STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5003--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 28, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sen. VENDITTO -- (at request of the State Comptroller) --
read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
the Committee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the abandoned property law, in relation to conforming
language relating to the preliminary reporting requirement for
unclaimed amounts of money or other property; precluding abandonment
based upon undeliverable mail; authorizing the accrual of interest on
life insurance policies after payment of abandoned property to the
state comptroller; increasing the minimum amount of an abandoned prop-
erty claim; increasing the threshold for certified mailings; recogniz-
ing electronic contact by an owner as written contact; and to amend
the abandoned property law and the surrogate's court procedure act, in
relation to authorizing the payment of interest on monies received
directly from surrogate's court and held by the state comptroller as
abandoned property
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 402 of the aban-
2 doned property law is amended to read as follows:
3 (a) that a report of unclaimed amounts of money or other property held
4 or owing by it [has been made to] will be prepared for the state comp-
5 troller and that a list of the names of the person or persons appearing
6 from the records of such corporation to be entitled thereto is on file
7 and open to public inspection at its principal office or place of busi-
8 ness in any city, village or county where any such abandoned property is
9 payable;
10 § 2. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 501 of the abandoned
11 property law, as amended by chapter 61 of the laws of 1989, is amended
12 to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08236-03-5
S. 5003--A 2
1 [(c) Notice regarding such wages has been sent by the corporation or
2 fiduciary, via first class mail, to such resident at his last known
3 address and such notice has been returned to the corporation or fiduci-
4 ary by the postal authorities for inability to locate such resident.]
5 § 3. Subdivision 1-a of section 1315 of the abandoned property law, as
6 amended by section 2 of part II of chapter 57 of the laws of 2010, is
7 amended to read as follows:
8 1-a. Any amount representing outstanding checks issued on and after
9 July first, nineteen hundred seventy-four [in payment for goods or for
10 services, and owing in this state,] or held by or on behalf of any
11 corporation (other than a public corporation), joint stock company,
12 individual, association of two or more individuals, committee or busi-
13 ness trust in this state, and which has remained unclaimed by the owner
14 of such amount for three years, shall be deemed abandoned property.
15 § 4. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 1405 of the abandoned
16 property law, as amended by section 13 of part R of chapter 85 of the
17 laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
18 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no owner of abandoned
19 property shall be entitled to receive interest on account of such aban-
20 doned property from and after the date a payment of such abandoned prop-
21 erty is hereafter made to the state comptroller pursuant to this chapter
22 or any law relating to abandoned property, whether or not [he] the owner
23 was entitled to interest on such property prior to such date, except
24 that interest at the overpayment rate set by the commissioner of taxa-
25 tion and finance pursuant to subsection (j) of section six hundred nine-
26 ty-seven of the tax law, less one percentage point, shall accrue to
27 abandoned property hereafter paid to the state comptroller under the
28 following provisions of this chapter, for the first five years such
29 property is held by [him] the state comptroller:
30 (i) paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section three hundred of this
31 chapter; or
32 (ii) subdivision one of section four hundred of this chapter; or
33 (iii) paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section six hundred of this
34 chapter; or
35 (iv) paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section seven hundred of this
36 chapter; or
37 (v) subdivision one of section ten hundred of this chapter; or
38 (vi) subdivision one of section two thousand two hundred twenty-two of
39 the surrogate's court procedure act.
40 § 5. The opening paragraph of paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of
41 section 1406 of the abandoned property law, as amended by chapter 815 of
42 the laws of 1963, is amended to read as follows:
43 Claim may be filed with the state comptroller for any abandoned prop-
44 erty amounting to over [three] twenty dollars, including any claim to a
45 security delivered to the state comptroller on or after November first,
46 nineteen hundred ninety-one, with a fair market value exceeding twenty
47 dollars at the time of claim heretofore paid to the state or hereafter
48 paid or delivered to the state comptroller pursuant to this chapter,
49 except abandoned property heretofore paid to the state pursuant to
50 § 6. Subdivision 2 of section 1422 of the abandoned property law, as
51 added by section 6 of part P of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003, is
52 amended to read as follows:
53 2. Where notice is required by subdivision one of this section, each
54 holder shall, with respect to property listed in such report whose value
55 is in excess of [one] three thousand dollars, send a second written
56 notice to the owner by certified mail, return receipt requested not less
S. 5003--A 3
1 than sixty days prior to the applicable reporting date for such
2 unclaimed property, provided that no notice pursuant to this subdivision
3 shall be required where: (a) such holder has received a claim from the
4 owner of the property; or (b) the original mailing was returned as unde-
5 liverable.
6 § 7. The abandoned property law is amended by adding a new section
7 1423 to read as follows:
8 § 1423. Electronic contact. Notwithstanding any other provisions of
9 this chapter, the comptroller shall promulgate rules and regulations
10 establishing when an electronic communication from the apparent owner of
11 amounts or securities as defined in this chapter shall constitute "writ-
12 ten contact" for purposes of tolling the dormancy period.
13 § 8. Subdivision 2 of section 2222 of the surrogate's court procedure
14 act, as amended by chapter 125 of the laws of 1972, is amended to read
15 as follows:
16 2. The court or the supreme court upon the petition of a person claim-
17 ing to be so entitled and upon at least 14 days' notice, accompanied
18 with a copy of the petition, to the attorney general, the state comp-
19 troller and the public administrator of the county or if there be none,
20 the county treasurer, may by a reference or by directing the trial of an
21 issue by a jury or otherwise, ascertain the rights of the persons inter-
22 ested and grant an order directing the payment of any money which
23 appears to be due to the claimant, [but without interest and] after
24 deducting all expenses incurred by the state with respect thereto.
25 § 9. This act shall take effect immediately.
