House Bill 88 would amend Montana’s Uniform Unclaimed Property Act to permit the Department of Revenue to automatically return unclaimed property valued at less than $1,000 when the department can validate an apparent owner’s identity and entitlement.

Representative Marta Bertoglio introduced the bill at the Department of Revenue’s request and summarized the program: the state holds more than $148 million in unclaimed property—about $133 million in cash and roughly $15 million in securities—and more than 1,500 tangible items. Deputy Administrator Renee Lemon of the Department of Revenue said the department plans to use holder reports and state income tax data to validate identity and address information, then send letters informing the apparent owner before issuing payment.

Lemon described three criteria for an automatic return: the department’s records must show the payment recipient is the apparent owner reported by the holder; the department must validate identity and address (the department expects to use income tax data for matching); and the property must be valued under $1,000. "We thought $1,000 was a good conservative place to start," Lemon said, noting roughly 90% of unclaimed properties are under that threshold.

Russ Christianson, unit manager for unclaimed property, stood by for technical questions and said the department expects to perform automatic returns periodically, not immediately for every reported account, and that the administrative cost should be absorbed within current staffing. Committee members asked about administrative burden and security for validation. Lemon said the department will send a pre-notice letter and wait six to eight weeks for nonresponse or return mail before proceeding and that the department is modeling its program on other states that already perform automatic returns.

Proponents urged passage; no opponents testified. The sponsor closed asking for a do-pass recommendation.