HB1791ham001 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Jack D. Franks

Filed: 2/25/2011

09700HB1791ham001 LRB097 09572 AJO 51446 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1791

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1791 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act is amended by changing Sections 11, 13, 14, 15, and 16 and by adding Section 14a as follows:

(765 ILCS 1025/11) (from Ch. 141, par. 111)

Sec. 11. Report of holder.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of Section 4 and in subsection (k) of this Section, every person holding funds or other property, tangible or intangible, presumed abandoned under this Act shall report and remit all abandoned property specified in the report to the State Treasurer with respect to the property as hereinafter provided. The State Treasurer may exempt any businesses from the reporting requirement if he deems such businesses unlikely to be holding unclaimed property.

(b) The information shall be obtained in one or more reports as required by the State Treasurer. The information shall be verified and shall include:

(1) the name, social security or federal tax identification number, if known, and last known address, including zip code, of each person appearing from the records of the holder to be the owner of any property of the value of $25 or more presumed abandoned under this Act;

(2) in case of unclaimed funds of life insurance corporations the full name of the insured and any beneficiary or annuitant and the last known address according to the life insurance corporation's records;

(3) the date when the property became payable, demandable, or returnable, and the date of the last transaction with the owner with respect to the property; and

(4) other information which the State Treasurer prescribes by rule as necessary for the administration of this Act.

(c) If the person holding property presumed abandoned is a successor to other persons who previously held the property for the owner, or if the holder has changed his name while holding the property, he shall file with his report all prior known names and addresses of each holder of the property.

(d) The report and remittance of the property specified in the report shall be filed by banking organizations, financial organizations, insurance companies other than life insurance corporations, and governmental entities before November 1 of each year as of June 30 next preceding. The report and remittance of the property specified in the report shall be filed by business associations, utilities, and life insurance corporations before May 1 of each year as of December 31 next preceding. The Director may postpone the reporting date upon written request by any person required to file a report. The report and remittance of the property specified in the report for property subject to subsection (a) of Section 3a of this Act shall be filed before a date established by the State Treasurer that is on or after the later of: (i) 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 94th General Assembly; or (ii) November 1, 2005.

(d-5) Notwithstanding the foregoing, currency exchanges shall be required to report and remit property specified in the report within 30 days after the conclusion of its annual examination by the Department of Financial Institutions. As part of the examination of a currency exchange, the Department of Financial Institutions shall instruct the currency exchange to submit a complete unclaimed property report using the State Treasurer's formatted diskette reporting program or an alternative reporting format approved by the State Treasurer. The Department of Financial Institutions shall provide the State Treasurer with an accounting of the money orders located in the course of the annual examination including, where available, the amount of service fees deducted and the date of the conclusion of the examination.

(e) Before filing the annual report, the holder of property presumed abandoned under this Act shall communicate with the owner at his last known address if any address is known to the holder, setting forth the provisions hereof necessary to occur in order to prevent abandonment from being presumed. If the holder has not communicated with the owner at his last known address at least 120 days before the deadline for filing the annual report, the holder shall mail, at least 60 days before that deadline, a letter by first class mail to the owner at his last known address unless any address is shown to be inaccurate, setting forth the provisions hereof necessary to prevent abandonment from being presumed.

(f) Verification, if made by a partnership, shall be executed by a partner; if made by an unincorporated association or private corporation, by an officer; and if made by a public corporation, by its chief fiscal officer.

(g) Any person who has possession of property which he has reason to believe will be reportable in the future as unclaimed property, may report and deliver it prior to the date required for such reporting in accordance with this Section and is then relieved of responsibility as provided in Section 14.

(h) (1) Records pertaining to presumptively abandoned property held by a trust division or trust department or by a trust company, or affiliate of any of the foregoing that provides nondealer corporate custodial services for securities or securities transactions, organized under the laws of this or another state or the United States shall be retained until the property is delivered to the State Treasurer.

As of January 1, 1998, this subdivision (h)(1) shall not be applicable unless the Department of Financial Institutions has commenced, but not finalized, an examination of the holder as of that date and the property is included in a final examination report for the period covered by the examination.

(2) In the case of all other holders commencing on the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1993, property records for the period required for presumptive abandonment plus the 9 years immediately preceding the beginning of that period shall be retained for 5 years after the property was reportable.

(i) The State Treasurer may promulgate rules establishing the format and media to be used by a holder in submitting reports required under this Act.

(j) Other than the Notice to Owners required by Section 12 and other discretionary means employed by the State Treasurer for notifying owners of the existence of abandoned property, the State Treasurer shall not disclose any information provided in reports filed with the State Treasurer or any information obtained in the course of an examination by the State Treasurer to any person other than governmental agencies for the purposes of returning abandoned property to its owners or to those individuals who appear to be the owner of the property or otherwise have a valid claim to the property, unless written consent from the person entitled to the property is obtained by the State Treasurer.

(k) Upon notice to the State Treasurer that is filed with the annual report required by this Section, a county treasurer holding funds presumed abandoned under the Act may elect, upon express written authorization of the county board, to report but not remit those funds. A county board and a county treasurer that exercise the option to retain funds under this subsection (k) shall nonetheless complete an annual report that includes and describes the retained funds. A county treasurer who elects to report, but not remit, funds otherwise required to be remitted under this Section must deposit those funds in the county's treasury, provided that the county board must file, with the annual report sent to the State Treasurer, its pledge to make payment from the retained funds to an owner, in the event that the State Treasurer determines pursuant to the Act that a payment is due to an owner.

(Source: P.A. 93-531, eff. 8-14-03; 94-686, eff. 11-2-05.)

(765 ILCS 1025/13) (from Ch. 141, par. 113)

Sec. 13. Except for a county treasurer who filed a report but who did not remit funds, as allowed by Section 11, every Every person who has filed a report as provided by Section 11 shall deliver to the State Treasurer all abandoned property specified in the annual report on the same date that the annual report is filed. Costs for communicating with owners by mail as required by subsection (e) of Section 11 may be deducted from the property specified in the report. Any such person, who pursuant to a statutory requirement, filed a bond or bonds pertaining to such abandoned property with the State Treasurer or his predecessor, may also deduct an amount equivalent to that part of the bond premium attributable to such abandoned property.

(Source: P.A. 90-167, eff. 7-23-97; 91-16, eff. 7-1-99.)

(765 ILCS 1025/14) (from Ch. 141, par. 114)

Sec. 14. Upon the payment or delivery of abandoned property to the State Treasurer, the state shall assume custody and shall be responsible for the safekeeping thereof. Any person who pays or delivers abandoned property to the State Treasurer under this Act is relieved of all liability to the extent of the value of the property so paid or delivered for any claim which then exists or which thereafter may arise or be made in respect to the property.

In the event legal proceedings are instituted by any other state or states in any state or federal court with respect to unclaimed funds or abandoned property previously paid, reported, or delivered to the State Treasurer, the holder shall give written notification to the State Treasurer and the Attorney General of this state of such proceedings within 10 days after service of process, or in the alternative at least 10 days before the return date or date on which an answer or similar pleading is due (or any extension thereof secured by the holder). The Attorney General may take such action as he deems necessary or expedient to protect the interests of the State of Illinois. The Attorney General by written notice prior to the return date or date on which an answer or similar pleading is due (or any extension thereof secured by the holder), but in any event in reasonably sufficient time for the holder to comply with the directions received, shall either direct the holder actively to defend in such proceedings or that no defense need be entered in such proceedings. If a direction is received from the Attorney General that the holder need not make a defense, such shall not preclude the holder from entering a defense in its own name if it should so choose. However, any defense made by the holder on its own initiative shall not entitle the holder to reimbursement for legal fees, costs and other expenses as is hereinafter provided in respect to defenses made pursuant to the directions of the Attorney General. If, after the holder has actively defended in such proceedings pursuant to a direction of the Attorney General, or has been notified in writing by the Attorney General that no defense need be made with respect to such funds, a judgment is entered against the holder for any amount paid to the State Treasurer under this Act, the State Treasurer shall, upon being furnished with proof of payment in satisfaction of such judgment, reimburse the holder the amount so paid. The State Treasurer shall also reimburse the holder for any legal fees, costs and other directly related expenses incurred in legal proceedings undertaken pursuant to the direction of the Attorney General.

(Source: P.A. 91-16, eff. 7-1-99.)

(765 ILCS 1025/14a new)

Sec. 14a. Retention of funds. Upon the retention of abandoned funds pursuant to Section 11, a county treasurer shall be responsible for the safekeeping of the retained funds. In the event the owner steps forward to claim abandoned funds previously retained by the county treasurer, the county treasurer shall forward this claim to the State Treasurer who shall review the claim and respond as provided in the Act.

(765 ILCS 1025/15) (from Ch. 141, par. 115)

Sec. 15. When property is paid, reported, or delivered to the State Treasurer under this Act, the owner is not entitled to receive income or other increments accruing thereafter, except that income accruing on unliquidated stock and mutual funds after July 1, 1993, may be paid to the owner.

(Source: P.A. 91-16, eff. 7-1-99.)

(765 ILCS 1025/16) (from Ch. 141, par. 116)

Sec. 16. The expiration of any period of time specified by statute or court order, during which an action or proceeding may be commenced or enforced to obtain payment of a claim for money or recovery of property, shall not prevent the money or property from being presumed abandoned property, nor affect any duty to file a report required by this Act or to pay, report, or deliver abandoned property to the State Treasurer.

(Source: P.A. 91-16, eff. 7-1-99.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2012.".