Treasury seeks staff boost as unclaimed property holdings surge past $1 billion

Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner, Oregon State Treasurer, and Claudia Chobano, director of trust property at the Oregon State Treasury, told the General Government Subcommittee on April 2 that unclaimed property receipts and caseloads have risen sharply since the program moved to Treasury in 2021.

"Unclaimed property really refers to intangible assets, but occasionally we also receive safety deposit boxes from banks," Trust Property Director Claudia Chobano said. She told the committee the trust property and estates administration programs now hold about $1 billion in assets and that in fall 2024 the office received $210 million in reported unclaimed property.

The increase has strained staff capacity and slowed turnaround on claim approvals, the directors said. Chobano asked the committee to approve Policy Option Package (POP) 107, a request for 11 positions and roughly $2.9 million for the 2025–27 biennium to expand audit, fraud-detection and claims-processing capacity. Deputy Treasurer George Naughton told members the package would be paid from investment earnings on held funds and would not touch owners’ principal.

Why it matters: Unclaimed property funds are held in trust for owners indefinitely and the interest supports the Common School Fund. Returning money to owners puts cash back into local economies, Chobano said, and the agency has begun proactively sending payments by automated matches as part of improved outreach.

Details and context

- Program scope: The trust property division works with more than 50,000 holders nationwide, processes roughly 60,000 claims a year and conducts outreach and audits of holders, Chobano said.

- Growth and capacity: Receipts increased markedly after the program transferred to Treasury in July 2021. Chobano said the office audited about 3,000 businesses a year but estimated far larger noncompliance among Oregon-registered businesses—“compliance is less than 10% nationwide,” she said—leaving a substantial compliance gap.

- Turnaround and targets: The office is statutorily required to approve claims within 120 days. Chobano and Deputy Treasurer Naughton said optimization and automation have reduced some delays, but the spike in receipts means the office cannot meet targets without more staff.

- Fraud risk and mitigation: Chobano told the committee unclaimed-property fraud has risen since the pandemic, with the Treasury’s systems flagging more than 11,000 potentially fraudulent claims (approximately $33 million) over five years; she said roughly 20% of flagged claims could be cleared after investigation. POP 107 would add fraud expertise and tools to reduce false claims and speed legitimate payouts.

- Estates administration: The division also manages small estates where there is no will or known heirs and described on-the-ground work—securing property, selling assets, and, in one example, corralling livestock—until heirs are located.

Quotes from the hearing

"Unclaimed property really refers to intangible assets, but occasionally we also receive safety deposit boxes from banks," Claudia Chobano, Trust Property Director, said.

"We are a victim of our own success. Very good at getting the money in, getting better at getting the money out. But lots of people don't know to make the claims," Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner said.

"POP 107 aims to bring us in line with the national standard and make sure that we have the right tools dedicated to mitigate fraud," Chobano said.

What the agency asked for

Chobano described POP 107 as a request for 11 positions and about $2.9 million over the 2025–27 biennium to: increase audits and compliance work, add fraud detection and investigation capacity, expand proactive matches and outreach, and shorten claim-processing timelines. Deputy Treasurer Naughton told the panel the request would be funded from earnings on held trust assets and would not reduce the principal held for owners.

Next steps

Treasury staff said the subcommittee will continue presentations and can provide localized lists of unclaimed-property records by ZIP code or county to help legislators raise awareness in their districts. There were no formal actions or votes during this informational hearing.