Commerce technical bill on licenses, safety-deposit boxes and external review laid over

Co-chair Herr presented a technical Department of Commerce bill (referred to in committee materials and testimony as House File 2398) that spans licensing and technology fee changes, exemptions and cross references, transfers and management of accounts, safety-deposit box procedures relating to unclaimed property, contracting for external review of adverse determinations, and a limited authorization for expedited rulemaking in a department-administered area.

Sam Smith and other Commerce staff described the bill as largely technical and intended to keep statutes current with administrative practice. The committee heard questions about the safety-deposit-box provisions, particularly whether banks must notify lessees before automatic renewal and how boxes with unpaid rental fees are handled when an owner is deceased or otherwise unreachable. Tess Rice, general counsel for the Minnesota Bankers Association, explained the industry’s process: renters are billed annually, and if rental is not paid the contents can enter the unclaimed-property process, which includes notary oversight and eventual escheat to the state in accordance with state unclaimed-property law.

Co-chair Herr said the bill also updates language about external review of adverse determinations to remove the Department of Administration from the contracting step and reduce the minimum number of contracted review organizations, and it makes minor edits to cross references and fee language. No public witnesses registered opposition at the Commerce hearing. Co-chair Herr asked the committee to lay the bill over for possible inclusion in a forthcoming Commerce omnibus policy bill; the committee laid it over.