Committee adopts amendment to allow treasurer to liquidate escheated assets and updates unclaimed-property rules to include digital assets

Senate Bill 146, presented to the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue by Treasury staff, would update statutes governing escheated estates, probate procedures and unclaimed property and would add digital assets (cryptocurrency) to the list of property types subject to modernized rules.

Treasury staff described the dash-2 amendment as a refinement of earlier language: the dash-1 used the term “virtual currency,” while the dash-2 replaces that phrasing with “digital asset” and structures the statute around that term. The bill would enable the treasurer to liquidate certain escheated property and would amend full-probate and small-estate statutes. The bill also updates rules related to last-known address requirements and treatment of de minimis unclaimed property holdings.

The committee adopted the dash-2 amendment and then voted to move SB 146, as amended, to the Senate floor with a due‑pass recommendation. Committee members said the changes could reduce state costs by improving administration of escheated and unclaimed assets. A Treasury representative was available remotely to answer questions.

Why it matters: updating unclaimed-property law to address digital assets and clarifying liquidation authority could affect how the state handles cryptocurrency and other digital holdings turned over to state custody, and could change administrative practice for probate and unclaimed-property claims.

The committee closed its work session on SB 146 after assigning a carrier to the bill and moving it toward the Senate floor.