State treasurer tells appropriations panel unclaimed property surged after COVID; data-matching and budget requests aim to return funds

State Treasurer Josh Hader told the Joint Appropriations Committee that South Dakota has seen an unusually large increase in unclaimed property receipts in recent years, driven in part by COVID-era account closures and a large, one-time holder report.

"Unclaimed property ... refers to accounts within financial institutions or companies in which there has been no activity generated regarding the property for ... the dormancy period, and in South Dakota, the dormancy period is 3 years," Hader said, explaining the legal threshold that moves property into the state's custody.

Hader and Unclaimed Property Administrator Lee Desjave described the types of property the program receives (checking and savings accounts, payroll checks, unredeemed money orders and gift cards, stocks, trust distributions and safety-deposit-box contents) and explained how holders (financial institutions or companies that hold property) are required to make good-faith attempts to contact owners before filing a report with the state.

The treasurer's office said three facts are driving this year’s unusually high receipts: 1) a surge of account closures tied to COVID-era funds passing the three-year dormancy threshold; 2) data cleanup and acquisitions by a large corporate holder…