Unclaimed property trust fund passes committee
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — A resolution calling for a statewide vote next year on whether a trust fund for unclaimed property revenue should be created has won approval from a committee of the South Dakota Legislature.
In a unanimous vote of 8-0 on Wednesday, the proposed ballot measure now goes to the full Senate.
McCook Lake bill waits for panel action
Senate Joint Resolution 505 would seek to propose and submit to the voters at the next general election an amendment to the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, establishing the trust for unclaimed property fund.
The resolution states that a trust fund will be created and named the trust for unclaimed property fund: 'Upon passage of this Act and after each receipt of any unclaimed property thereafter, the state treasurer shall, after paying all claims, expenses authorized by law, and deposits into the general fund as authorized by law, deposit into the trust fund the net receipts from unclaimed property.'
The bill adds that beginning July 1, 2027, and each July first thereafter, the state treasurer shall distribute a portion of the interest and income of the trust fund into the general fund. The calculation of the amount to be distributed must be determined by law and must promote growth of the trust fund and a steadily growing distribution amount.
The resolution is intended to work in tandem with Senate Bill 155, which calls for creating a trust fund and allowing for the drawdown of unclaimed property funds from the general fund into the trust fund. SB 155 starts with just over $61 million of unclaimed property being used for the budget that starts July 1 and then gradually draws down to $25 million ongoing.
South Dakota has an entire chapter of state laws on unclaimed property and defines it as 'money, rights to claim refunds or rebates, postal savings deposits, bonds, United States savings bonds, notes, certificates, policies of insurance, other instruments of value, choses-in-action, obligations whether written or unwritten and anything of value of any nature whatsoever' that has been abandoned or forgotten.
Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen said the interest would more than replace this revenue and then South Dakota would have a more fiscally prudent plan going forward.
'Currently, we rely on unclaimed property as an ongoing revenue source this year, $60 or $65 million,' Venhuizen said. 'We don't want to just blow a $60 million hole in the budget this year, so there's a plan in that bill to ramp that reliance down over the next several years and transition so that these funds go into a trust fund available to pay claims.'
No one spoke in opposition of the resolution on Wednesday.
State government in 2024 received what was then a record amount of unclaimed property totaling $133,617,777, minus $38 million paid in claims. This year, Haeder's office had taken in an estimated $247,259,387 as of February 12, plus another $60 million targeted for the state budget.
Yeas- Beal (R), Deibert (R), Karr (R), Larson (D), Mehlhaff (R), Perry (R), Peterson (R), Pischke (R)
Excused- (R) Jensen
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