Committee adopts amendment clarifying brokers may retain interest on entire escrow balance, extends transfer window

The Committee on Financial Institutions voted 13-0 to pass the House Committee substitute for House Bill 1211 after adopting a committee amendment that clarifies how interest earned on escrow accounts is handled and lengthens the time a broker may retain that interest.

Representative Voss, who offered the amendment, said the change is meant to clarify that “it is the interest on the entirety of the account and not just on the brokers up $2,000 of personal funds that are co mingled,” and to extend the time the broker has to move that interest out of the account from the current 10 days under the code of state regulation to 30 days.

The amendment (ending in 0.01h) was presented as a language clarification. A House staff member described the revision as “a little bit of language correction” intended “to be clear that the broker may retain these funds.” Representative Voss said the original bill’s draft appeared to limit retention to interest attributable to a broker’s small personal portion of a commingled account; the amendment extends the clarification to interest earned on the total account balance and increases the transfer window to 30 days. Voss also acknowledged existing disclosure requirements: “that has to be disclosed to parties that have an interest in the money that's in that account.”

Committee members adopted the amendment by voice vote. The committee then approved a substitute incorporating the amendment and voted 13-0 on the committee substitute for House Bill 1211. Chair Owen moved the do-pass motion; the roll call recorded 13 ayes and 0 nays.

The measure now advances from committee with the clarified language on escrow interest retention and the longer transfer period. The transcript records the committee’s action and explanation but does not specify subsequent steps or the bill’s next hearing date.