Brief⁽¹⁾

Sub. for S.B. 117, as amended, amends the law governing the manner in which unclaimed property is handled in this state based, in part, upon the most recent version of the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Act) adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

The bill, among other things:

• generally updates the definition section of the law as suggested by the Act with the exception of the definition of "Mineral," which remains limited primarily to oil, gas, and coal;



• consolidates in one statute particular types of property and the periods of time such property remains unclaimed before it is presumed abandoned and subject to reporting and transfer to the state, and repeals several statutes that previously set individual times for particular types of property;

• by House Committee amendment, clarifies that the definition of "Person" includes "state or other" government subdivisions, agencies, or instrumentalities;



• removes unclaimed gift certificates and unused tickets from consideration as abandoned property;



• addresses the "vendor to vendor" issue by providing that any outstanding check, draft, credit balance, customer's overpayment or unidentified remittance issued to a sole proprietorship or business association as part of a commercial transaction in the ordinary course of a holder's business shall not be presumed abandoned; and



• retains the provision that property valued at $100 or more must be reported and delivered over to the State Treasurer, but no report or delivery is required if the holder has no individual property valued over $100 and the total value of the holder's aggregate property is under $250 (a House Committee amendment gives the administrator discretionary authority to require a report of any holder); and

• also by House Committee amendment, reinstates an exemption from the unclaimed property law patronage dividends or capital credits held by or owing by agricultural cooperatives created under K.S.A. 17-1601 et seq.

Background