H.B. 519 Unclaimed Property Modifications

What this bill does

The bill gives the state treasurer a set of rules for handling unclaimed digital assets such as cryptocurrency. Under the bill, a digital asset with no activity for three years becomes unclaimed, is held for three more years, and is then converted to cash while the treasurer still tries to find the owner.

Plain-English summary written by AI from the sponsor’s presentation in committee and on the floor. Check the official text below.

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Every vote

• 7 yes, 0 no, 3 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: Amendment Recommendation · Feb 17, 2026Who voted how
• 7 yes, 0 no, 3 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 17, 2026Who voted how
• 7 yes, 0 no, 3 absentHouse Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee: Consent Calendar Recommendation · Feb 17, 2026Who voted how
• 65 yes, 0 no, 10 absentFinal House vote · Feb 19, 2026Who voted how
• 5 yes, 0 no, 2 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: vote to change the bill · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 4 yes, 0 no, 3 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: vote to approve it · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 3 yes, 0 no, 4 absentSenate Revenue and Taxation Committee: Consent Calendar Recommendation · Feb 25, 2026Who voted how
• 25 yes, 0 no, 4 absentFinal Senate vote · Mar 2, 2026Who voted how
• 68 yes, 0 no, 7 absentHouse vote to accept the other chamber's changes · Mar 3, 2026Who voted how

Hearings and debates

• Feb 17, 2026 House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (50 turns)

  1. Committee chair46:23

     Alright, next up we have Representative Teuscher with HB five 19 unclaimed property modifications. Let's get over a little bit.

  2. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher46:33

     Well, thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you. Uh, members of the committee, um, earlier my intern dropped off some flyers, um, with the policy analysts. Do you guys have that you can distribute to the committee? Did you pass those out? Thank you. Awesome. And, uh, with me today, I have our distinguished, uh, state treasurer, Marlow Oaks, and also Dennis Johnson, who is our Unclaimed Property Administrator. I'm gonna turn some time over them in a, in a second, but wanted to give you guys a little bit of background. As many of you know, we have, um, an amazing program for unclaimed property within the state that is, uh, administered by the treasurer in his office. And he does a great job of, of advertising that. And, and when, um, certain property is, is abandoned, uh, they take, uh, um, control of that and then, uh, provide it in a way for people to get access back to that, that type of property. However, um, though though this currently covers forgotten bank accounts or uncashed, uh, checks, life insurance payouts or, uh, safe, uh, deposit box contents, um, there isn't clear direction on what to do when you deal with digital assets, um, cryptocurrencies and such. And so we've, we've spent, uh, this last interim working on, uh, some comprehensive legislation that will help the Treasurer's Office to deal with that and, um, ensure that Utah is continuing to take the lead in this space and in dealing with digital assets and, um, and making Utah a place where people want to store and, and maintain those assets. And so, uh, at this point, why don't I turn some time over to our good treasurer and, and Dennis to, to talk a little bit about the bill, and then I can add a little color before they finish or after they finish, it'd be great.

  3. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer48:20

     Thank you, um, Representative Teuscher and appreciate his, uh, work, working with my office on this bill. My name is Marlo Oaks, um, state treasurer, and, uh, appreciate the opportunity to join you this morning. HB five 19 fills a gap in Utah's unclaimed property law by establishing a clear statutory framework for how the state should handle digital assets, uh, when they're reported as unclaimed property. Current statute defines virtual currency as a reportable asset, but it does not provide a clear framework for how the state should treat digital assets once reported, while historically, very few have been reported to the state, we are beginning to see more of these assets come through the unclaimed property process. As that trend continues, this bill updates the definition to digital assets and provides the guidance necessary for the state to administer this category of unclaimed property responsibly. And consistently, without a clear framework, the state faces unnecessary risk, both operational uncertainty about how these assets should be handled and potential litigation exposure, particularly given the volatility of digital assets and the questions that can arise around valuation and timing. The bill authorizes the unclaimed property division to procure a designated custodian to securely hold digital assets reported to the state. It establishes a clear and practical structure. If the state is able to procure an appropriate custodian custodian, digital assets may be held in kind for three years to facilitate return to the rightful owner. If it, if that is not feasible, the bill allows the state to liquidate the assets rather than holding them in an ad hoc or legally ambiguous manner. This approach is consistent with how the state already treats other asset types, particularly securities, which are held for three years before liquidation. HB five 19 protects owners by establishing clear rules for how their property is reported and safeguarded and how claims are processed. It also protects the state by reducing ambiguity and strengthening the legal defensibility of how digital assets are administered. Ultimately, this legislation allows the unclaimed property division to keep pace with modern asset types while maintaining the same principles of security transparency and responsible stewardship that govern the rest of the program. And I'll just add, um, you know, as we were approaching this legislation, we looked across the country. You know, we like to be first in the nation on these types of bills. Unfortunately, we're not. And there are a number of states that have been able to take, uh, steps in this space. And we looked at the best practices across those states and took, took those best practices. And that's what you see incorporated here in h HB five 19. Um, there are also, uh, dozens of states now, as I, as I've heard from our colleagues here, and we have a number of people from this space that, that deal with this every day, um, that, uh, are are moving along in this direction as well. And so this is not a, um, I'll say this is not advent guard for, for the state to, to be involved in this area, but it's very prudent and, and timely for the state to be able to put these guardrails in place. Two other things I'll just say is, um, now this, this legislation is very pro-consumer as we have about 15 to 20% of the residents of the state of Utah that own some sort of digital asset. We wanna make sure that they have a way to protect those assets if for some reason, um, they get reported as, as abandoned. And this protects those types of consumers. But it also protects, um, just the, the momentum that we've had generally in the state and trying to lead out in the blockchain and digital innovation space. And so other states are looking to Utah to see what we're doing in this space. This is the right approach. Um, we've taken the time necessary to make sure that we've crafted the right policy. And so with that, we're happy to answer any questions from the committee.

  4. Committee chair52:13

     Great. We'll go to the committee for clarifying, uh, questions. And I think this is also, it's Representative Owens.

  5. Rep. Doug Owens52:21

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think this is probably a dumb question, but I, um, I thought the whole point of these kind of digital assets was to, that they really were secure when, when somebody lost them, that they were gone. And, uh, I'm, I'm intrigued. I mean, uh, certainly the concept seems sound, so I, I think I support this, but, you know, there was a case in Britain where the guy threw away a hard drive with three quarters of a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin. Like could he recover that as a lost asset? I thought the how much are you gonna be spending effort to do stuff where the whole point of it, the, uh, cryptocurrency was that only the one person could access it. I'm just trying to get any sense of whether we're burdening your office, um, in a way that's gonna be complicated for you. I presume you've thought this through Representative Teuscher, but just curious how that works given the, the whole crypto premise.

  6. Committee chair53:17

     Go Ahead, Dennis. Dennis Johnson,

  7. Dennis Johnston, Unclaimed Property Administrator53:18

     unclaimed property administrator. Thanks for the question. My understanding is that in order to transfer a cryptocurrency or similar asset, you need to have the private key. The lack of a private key is what enable or prevents the transfer of those assets. So we would not be receiving assets into our office unless that key was also included in the, what's reported to the state. And a custodian would have that so that we could be able to move it where it belongs. You're talking about a situation where somebody loses it themselves because they have a personal wallet. None of this bill applies to anybody that's just dealing with their own personal wallet. This is where they place that cryptocurrency with some other holder, some other entity, some other custodian who's handling those transactions on their behalf. There's various types of currencies, and they could be interchangeable, like on an exchange. Oh, essentially like a bank, like something comparable to a bank. Similar.

  8. Rep. Doug Owens54:12

     Okay. So, so if I could just add, and, and maybe this is not a good analogy, but the way I think about in my mind, the, the example you gave is if someone had a suitcase of cash, they just lost it. That's very different than if you Uintah a bank and you had the bank hold it on your behalf, and then you abandon it somehow. You don't hear from them for three years, and then they come back to the treasurer's office and say, find this person giving it back their asset. Gotcha. I guess it did turn out to be a dumb question. Thank you, though. Could, could one of you go through the scenarios you've seen where this unclaimed property ends up in, in your office or being asked to take over? What are the scenarios you've seen so far?

  9. Dennis Johnston, Unclaimed Property Administrator54:50

     We haven't seen a ton. This is really, really small in comparison to what we normally see. However, most of them in, in, in, in my experience with the ones that we have seen mostly from one particular vendor, is that it's a very, very small account. They leave it alone. They, you probably even forgot about it, and it's a couple of $3. And so they liquidate it, converted to cash and send it to our office. That's most of what we've seen to date, that's changing. However, that's gonna be changing pretty rapidly as time moves on. We've seen a huge increase in all kinds of property being reported the last three years, and crypto's gonna be the same way, so we wanna get ready for it. But typically, is this a situation where somebody has passed away or there is a dispute? What's, what's the, Or they, they get dementia, they don't remember it anymore. Um, their, their guardian or their conservator doesn't know about it. It gets abandoned, forgotten. And then because it's sat dormant for so long, it's reportable to the state. These kinds are normally three years or longer. Some assets are one year, some are 15 years, depending on, like, travelers checks are 15 years. These are three years. So they would then be reported to the state.

  10. Committee chair55:58

      Thank you. Next, we'll go to Representative Hansen.

  11. Rep. Leah Hansen56:01

      Oh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Just have a dumb question. I mean, just following along that trend, um, can you explain the liquidate liquidating assets to me? I don't understand what that, what that means when you're dealing with cryptocurrencies.

  12. Dennis Johnston, Unclaimed Property Administrator56:15

      Okay. With digital, I don't have a custodian today, so I can't really speak to it. Let me use an analogy of securities. Let's say a BC stock gets in your account, it's in a small little trading account, and then, um, you get sick and die, and then your family members don't know anything about it. Three years later, after they've settled the estate and they've moved on this item that's held at a, a brokerage account somewhere, they've lost track of you. They send that property to the state of Utah. So I have a hundred shares of a b, C stock. I, I continue to hold that stock for three more years, giving the family a chance to see your deceased, their deceased ancestors' name on the website and come and claim it. And then I, it's within that three years, I'm gonna give them those shares and they can divide it up among the family the way that they choose to. We wanna do the same thing with digital assets going forward in the future, these assets go up and down in value, they fluctuate. And currently I don't have a way of holding those in kind for any period of time for those three period, three years to run, like we do with securities before we liquidate. We're not gonna hold those securities forever. We don't hold tangible items. We get from safe deposit boxes forever. Either we auction those off and then the proceeds are available for the errors to claim later on. We wanna do the same thing with digital assets here.

  13. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer57:36

      So, representative Hanser, if I could just cut to the chase, I think to, to your question, and that is, liquidate means to sell off the asset, right? So whatever the cost is today. So if he has the a hundred shares of that stock, um, or a hundred shares of Bitcoin or whatever it is, it would be to sell it to the, whatever the dollar value is today, and then they have it in cash rather than in the actual asset.

  14. Committee chair58:01

      Thank you. Next, we'll go to Representative Shellenberger.

  15. Rep. David Shallenberger58:04

      Thank you Chair. Uh, this is not a dumb question. I'm just kidding. No, I actually appreciate everything that's going on here. I agree with it. Uh, fundamentally, I have a question, though, on the timeline with three years, is that a good presumption if there's no contact or indication from the owner that three years is enough? I know it, it seems like maybe, is that the viewpoint? That it's more of like a bank account or checking account where people are using it regularly versus, uh, long-term investment? Uh, especially with the volatility over the last six years in, in, uh, digital currencies that, you know, it's up and then it's down, and then it's up again by huge amounts that a lot of people are just holding it or holding it and not touching it, waiting for it to stabilize or continue to increase. Three years in that timeframe is actually a relatively short time, and it's viewed more of a long term asset. So wondering if three years is a, is long enough,

  16. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer59:07

      There are no such thing as dumb answer dumb questions, only dumb answers. So let me see if I can work around that one for you before it gets reported to the state of Utah as unclaimed property. It's gonna been an dormant status for three years. When you tack onto that an additional three years beyond the time it gets in our hands, that means it's been untouched, untouched, unknown undealt with for six years by the time we liquidate. So it'll have been the six year timeframe of no activity, no actions by the owner on that property before we ever would liquidate it. I believe six years is probably about long enough.

  17. Rep. David Shallenberger59:41

      So one more question. Does that mean that they haven't logged into their account to just check the account, or does that mean that they haven't bought or sold any of their assets?

  18. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer59:51

      Any logging in, changing of passwords, communication via email accounts as activity.

  19. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher59:55

      Okay. Thank you. And Representative Shallenberger, if I could just add, we worked really closely with, with the industry as well as with the treasurer's office to figure out where that sweet spot was, and that's where we landed with, um, three years. It's what's everyone, everyone is used to on the security side anyway, and so it just made sense to stick it at three years.

  20. Rep. David Shallenberger1:00:14

      No, I appreciate that. This is a, it actually is a concern across many states. I'm glad we're addressing it. Thank you.

  21. Committee chair1:00:21

      We'll go back to Representative Owens for a very intelligent question.

  22. Rep. Doug Owens1:00:26

      You know, I remember a for earlier conversation with your office about how you fund the, uh, do you, do you get a percentage of what you return to the person to cover your costs or I I think you get the interest bearing account for other kinds of assets helps defray the cost of running the services you're providing. How does that work with this bill?

  23. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer1:00:49

      We do not charge to return unclaimed property to rightful owners. We bear that cost ourselves,

  24. Rep. Doug Owens1:00:54

      But it, but it, I thought when you, I thought you explained to me that you get the interest on the account

  25. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer1:00:59

      Money we do. On the interest on the deposits. Yes, sir. We do.

  26. Rep. Doug Owens1:01:02

      Is there any comparable feature that lets you, uh, defray the cost of your office through the Bitcoin piece or the crypto piece here That is not contemplated?

  27. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer1:01:11

      Um, there was some language regarding that in our early discussions about this language for the bill, and we did not include those because what we do for interest, let's say, um, let's take a security, that's probably the, the best analog to digital is, is securities. Most securities pay interest or dividends, bonds pay interest stocks pay dividends. If they're a dividend paying stock for those three years that we continue to hold that asset, we will accumulate those dividends or those interest payments on behalf of that rightful owner and they'll receive those. But once it's liquidated, we no longer receive the interest or the dividends or the interest from the bonds or this, the other interest. Now the cash is assets are invested also into the PTIF and the it's interest, but we keep that interest to fund our operations. That's how we get taken. So if it's taken care of, if it's a security that increased in value and you just return the share to the person that you wouldn't get any, they would get The, any dividends we accumulated during that time, They would get those as well. Not receive any competent. No, we don't, we bear that cost.

  28. Rep. Doug Owens1:02:12

      I think it's a good idea to think about that because this is, uh, because you're performing a service that's directly related to an individual, and in that, that's a good argument for some kind of compensation back to the person. But anyway, thank you.

  29. Committee chair1:02:33

      Seeing no further questions, we'll open this up for a public comment. Is there anyone here who would like to speak to this bill? Looks like we've got a few. So if you'd, uh, come forward and state your name and who you represent, we'd love to hear from you.

  30. McKenna Plowman, Coinbase1:02:53

      Sorry, Do I just need to sign in right here?

  31. Committee chair1:03:01

      Yes. Or you, and you can even do that afterwards. Okay.

  32. McKenna Plowman, Coinbase1:03:10

      Uh, good morning, uh, vice Chair Cutler and members of the committee. And my name is McKenna Plowman and I am with Coinbase. Great. Thank you. Um, I'm just gonna tell you a little bit about Coinbase and then, uh, speak to the bill. Um, Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency platform in the United States and has been a publicly traded company since April of 2021. Our mission is to increase economic freedom globally, and we believe that blockchain technology is a key driver to that future. We provide a secure marketplace where customers can buy, sell, and send over 300 different types of digital assets. Coinbase aims to be the most trusted crypto platform in the world by prioritizing consumer protection, security, and compliance. We are proud to hold a money transmitter license with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and are also regulated as a money service business under SEN within the United States Treasury, which requires know your customer compliance and transaction monitoring for suspicious activity. Utah is a very important state for Coinbase into the broader digital asset ecosystem. 52 million Americans own cryptocurrency, including 15% of the population of Utah. The state has consistently demonstrated leadership through thoughtful, pragmatic policymaking, and has been at the forefront of innovation in financial technology. The legislation before you continues that tradition, it modernizes Utah's unclaimed property framework by creating parody between digital assets and traditional financial assets. Today, there is a gray area and statute regarding how digital assets should be handled once they're deemed abandoned and a company is unable to reestablish contact with the owner. This bill provides clarity, specifically, it allows the unclaimed digital assets to be transferred to the state in their original digital asset form. Similarly to how brokerages transfer agents and mutual funds deliver unclaimed stocks to the unclaimed property division. This approach benefits all parties. It provides clear operational guidance for companies, reduces administrative complexity and potential liability for the state, and better protects the long-term value of assets for Utah residents. For example, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has seen exponential growth since its creation in 20 or 2009 by allowing the unclaimed Bitcoin to stay in its original form. If citizens can reclaim the funds from the state, they could see realize gains as that would align with the growth of the crypto industry at large. This approach also mitigates potential litigation with, with regard to owners reclaiming their funds, as the owners will realize, post liquidation increase in the market value. Pro Coinbase proudly supports House Bill five 19, and we're eager to continue to see the state embrace this transformational technology. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak today, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

  33. Committee chair1:06:09

      Thank you,

  34. Amelia Powers Gardner1:06:22

      Mr. Chair. Uh, my name is Amelia Powers Gardner. I am a Utah County Commissioner, but I'm also a an avid crypto holder. Um, and I'm here, uh, speaking as myself, uh, as an individual. Um, I love the idea of, um, these exchanges being able to, to utilize the unclaimed property. There's a couple of different scenarios that, that I've experienced myself. One is if a, if an exchange goes bankrupt, um, and you don't happen to see the email to claim that property back in a bankruptcy, they could give that property to the state, um, and we could then get it that way. Uh, the, the second one is sometimes in a new exchange. I remember I was at A BYU basketball game one time, and Coin Zoom was one of the sponsors, and they said, if you scan this QR code and set up a coin Zoom account, we'll put $50 in crypto in your account. So I scanned the QR code, I get my $50 in crypto, and then I completely forget that I have a Coin Zoom account because I do most of my work in with Coinbase or Kraken or on one of the other exchanges. And, um, three years later, that money that that was gifted to me can then go through this process. Um, so as somebody who dabbles in this space, plays in this space, tries out new exchanges, it is not unheard of for me to forget about 20 or $50 that are in an exchange. And this would give us the ability to get that money that is rightfully mined back through the system. So I think it's a service to the citizens and, uh, this solves a problem that we haven't had. On top of that, as an, as an exchange, as part of this bill, it's explaining how government entities can custody crypto. So now I'm gonna speak to you as a county commissioner. When we, uh, when we seize cryptocurrency as part of a seizure from the, um, from law enforcement, we actually have no way for the government to custody crypto because we have nothing in rules or in law right now that shows how government can custody crypto. This will actually solve that problem for local governments and sheriff's departments and the attorney general's office. When we claim, when we seize crypto, we will now have a way to custody it, because that is written into this bill. So that's actually helpful. As a side note, thank you.

  35. Aaron Gleave, Utah Blockchain Coalition1:08:35

      Thank you. I'm Aaron Gleave. I'm currently the executive director of, uh, Utah Blockchain Coalition. We are a nonprofit that advocates educates and, uh, helps guide policy around this technology. I'm here to speak on behalf of the organization and express support, uh, for this bill. We have a number of, uh, strategic corporate partners, Coinbase, Kraken, giddy, and others who, uh, are very interested in seeing legislation like this pass. It will fill a very important gap in allowing them to be legally compliant, uh, with the disposal of unclaimed property. And so I'm here to express support for the bill on behalf of the organization and, uh, our corporate partners. Thank you.

  36. Michael Proper, Digital World1:09:39

      Hello, and thank you for your time and for caring about this important topic. My name is Michael Proper. I work with a group of company named the Clear Companies, and we focus on decentralized systems. I also am a member of what's called the Digital World, which actually creates some standards, which is opposite of a lot of the things that you've heard today. Instead of being centralized exchange, this whole ecosystem around digital assets and enable and individual to own their own assets as well as their own identity in the digital world, there's frameworks that actually allow communication with these types of individuals that can prove who they are and prove that their assets are there, and then prove that they're actually alive, but it's on a decade basis. So I absolutely emphatically support this bill and the direction of Utah. I would urge that they look at a long-term life cycle, like, uh, Shallenberger said earlier, three years is a very limited time, especially when we're looking at generational wealth, which is a lot of these types of assets are holding. So once again, thank you for your attention and for caring about these things. I know right now they may sound like they're not important, but I believe that Utah can actually hold a solid place in the future for governing these types of assets. Similar to how the Cook Islands manages assets that are in a trust format. This the state of Utah, by passing intelligent laws, not only can responsibly take assets back to the individual, and I'm not talking about just cryptocurrencies. I'm talking currencies, equities, commodities, and cryptos, but also insurance and property. Whether you're holding a title of a boat or a car or a home, you could literally pass this from one generation to another. So I would, I would hope that we expand our broad thinking on not just three years as we would a $2 in a bank account. This is a big deal. This is a big topic and grateful for the attention that's here. So thank you. Thank you very much.

  37. Steve Masur, Raines Feldman Littrell LLP1:11:38

      Hi, everybody. My name's, uh, Steve Massur. I am a partner, uh, at the law firm of Rains Feldman. Latrell. Uh, and I work in the technology, uh, space, and I've done a lot of work in the blockchain space and also, uh, have been involved in, um, sort of the achievement of, uh, assets in other, you know, kinds of tech of, of, not technology, but asset spaces. Um, and I just wanted to just sort of expand upon what some of the other people have said. Uh, some of the clients that I've run across, um, and the people that I've worked with over the years in technology, and especially in blockchain, uh, when they first started out, uh, as we all do when we first start out with digital assets, uh, we're kind of messy. Um, so, you know, we've, we've talked about Coinbase as an exchange. Uh, there's many exchanges, hundreds of exchanges, um, and people were messy at the beginning of this. And, uh, some of the ca like in the last year, I've worked on two cases. And so far we've talked about, uh, you know, $30, $50 that are, uh, across many accounts at some of these exchanges. But I just wanna underscore that, um, sometimes it's larger amounts. So, um, the two cases I worked on in the last year, one of 'em was for 300 Bitcoin, which is a much larger amount of money. Um, if bitcoins are, you know, if you, if you, if you want to round up to a hundred thousand dollars per Bitcoin, it's a lot of money. Um, and another case was for 16 Bitcoin and, and, uh, 1625 and 80 Bitcoin across different exchanges. So, um, as we get, as we proceed, um, through history, uh, these assets that people were messy with at the beginning, and they're messy with all of their assets, uh, you know, people make mistakes and a lot of mistakes were made in early crypto, and we're gonna find these assets, um, people are looking for them. And it might take a number of years, uh, and the owners might, uh, die. Um, and these assets could be passed on to their relatives and they could sheet to the state and be used, uh, not just go to, go to waste and be used for a better purpose. So I just wanted to underscore the importance of sort of plugging this gap in the achievement, uh, of assets, uh, area. And it just seems like a pretty obvious, uh, and low hanging fruit type of legislation to pass. Thank you.

  38. Committee chair1:14:17

      Thank you very, thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? Do we have anyone online seeing no one else? I'll, uh, close the public comment and turn it back to the Committee for Action or clarifying con, uh, questions, reminding folks that we have an amendment that needs to be adopted, and we'll go to Representative Fiefia.

  39. Rep. Jake Fiefia1:14:48

      Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. I'd like to move the amendment. The motion is to move amendment one for HB five 19 unclaimed property modifications.

  40. Committee chair1:14:57

      Any discussion to that? Uh, maybe we could ask the sponsor to comment.

  41. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:15:01

      Yep. It's just a, a small change in, in the way that it was drafted. It gets rid of the word stock, uh, from exchange and makes it broader to, to encompass what we're talking about here.

  42. Committee chair1:15:13

      Any further discussion on that? All those in favor of adopting amendment one to five 19 unclaimed property modifications say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously.

  43. Rep. Jake Fiefia1:15:25

      Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. With that, I will move that we pass out favorably HB five 19 as amended to the full body of the house.

  44. Committee chair1:15:34

      Thank you. That's an order. So the motion is to favorably recommend HB five 19 unclaimed property modifications as amended. Any discussion to that motion? Uh, we'll go to the, uh, sponsor to, to some.

  45. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:15:50

      Yeah. Well, um, I think you guys have heard a lot of comment of how this is really a common sense step in the right direction for Utah, so we appreciate, uh, this committee's attention. One, one thing I did want to mention, I, it's clear on, on the flyer, but I didn't talk about it, is this sits within the, um, the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. And, uh, I've presented on this committee before on, on the Uniform Law Commission, um, act. This is a space that, you know, wasn't something that was contemplated by the ULC at the time. I'm sure we'll see some future, um, clarification from the ULC on this. But, um, but the, the numbers, like the three years that we have for securities and such, that came out of the uniform law and has been standardized across the United States.

  46. Committee chair1:16:39

      Thank you. Back to the motion maker. Just

  47. Rep. Jake Fiefia1:16:41

      Would like to thank Representative Teuscher with, uh, on his work on this. This is really common sense. It makes a lot of sense to update our laws to make sure that we're handling unclaimed crypto the same way that we would, um, handle other unclaimed property. And so I'm in full support of this,

  48. Committee chair1:17:01

      Right? We'll now place the motion, uh, in front of the committee. All those in favor of, uh, a favorable recommendation for P five 19 unclaimed property modifications as amended, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Say nay. That passes unanimously. Thank you. Is Representative Brooks here? Very Good. Uh, if the, uh, we have a, uh, Jordan Representative Teuscher that, that passed unanimously. Uh, I think we have somebody who would like to, uh, offer to put this on the consent calendar. Does somebody wanna make that motion? I

  49. Rep. Troy Shelley1:17:58

      Would like to make a motion we move That onto consent.

  50. Committee chair1:18:00

      Given this past unanimously, the motion is to put, uh, HP five 19, uh, as amended on the consent calendar. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Thank you. You got some friends Today? Today. I don't see Representative Brooks, but I thought I saw Senator Mikel. Is he still with us? Hard to keep that senator's attention. Uh, somebody willing to just step out and see if we have either Mikel or, or Representative Brooks? Close by Text Representative Brooks over here. Okay. Shellenberger could present for him. Yeah, I think that's Then Shellenberger left. Yes. Representative. Oh, I must have missed that. So we have, uh, representative Mikel and we have, or Suzie, Senator Mikel and, uh, didn't want to, and Senator Harper. Uh, another meeting I gotta go to. Let's, let's, I'll arm wrestling. We know who has the longer attention span. So we'd like to hear from Senator Mikel first, if that's okay. I'll take that while we've got his attention.

• Feb 19, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (4 turns)

  1. Floor reading clerk14:18speaker not certain

     House Bill five 19 Unclaimed property modifications by Representative Teuscher. This bill was heard in Economic Development and Workforce Services with a Photo 7 0 3

  2. Speaker (presiding)14:28

     Representative Teuscher.

  3. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher14:30

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, as many of you know, we have a very robust unclaimed property, um, process in the state of Utah that's run by our good state treasurer. In fact, if, if any of you are interested, you can go to my cash dot Utah dot gov and see if there's any unclaimed property out there. Mr. Speaker, I just, uh, took a look and there's, uh, over $250 for a Mike Schultz, uh, coming from Ogden. So you might want to check that site out. That, that being said, um, one of the things that's increasingly happening in, in our state is as, uh, more Utahans are purchasing, um, digital assets, uh, cryptocurrencies, uh, as that property is, is unclaimed, there isn't a process necessarily for the Treasurer's office to be able to manage that. And so that's what you see here in House Bill five 19. It essentially treats those digital assets like you would other types of security. So if, if you don't have any sort of action on digital assets for three years, um, they become unclaimed assets that go to the Treasurer's office. The Treasurer's office will hold those digital assets for three years. At the end of three years, they'll convert it into cash like they would with a stock or anything else. Um, and then continue to try to find the owner of, of that digital asset. Uh, if, if pro, if, if possible. This is a bill that has wide cons, uh, consensus across the treasurer's office, um, the the digital assets space and, uh, from the Uniform Law Commission. And I urge your support. Thank you. Representative Teuscher voting will now be open

  4. Speaker (presiding)16:01

     on HP five 19. Representative Walter, would you like to vote? All present having voted votings now closed, HB five 19 passes this body with 65 yes votes zero, no votes will be sent to the Senate for its consideration.

• Feb 25, 2026 Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee▶ Watch
  Transcript (22 turns)

  1. Committee chair1:22:22

     Uh, unclaimed property modifications by Representative Teuscher House Bill five 19 representative. I'm gonna ask that you give the expedited version of your presentation so that we are done in time for, for floor time. Great. You have a substitute available on the bill. Would you like to adopt the first sub? Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Trying to Remember what that was, but Yes, it's a lovely substitute. I I'm gonna go to Senator Brammer for that motion.

  2. Sen. Brammer1:22:53

     Happy to move it. Okay. The motion is to adopt first substitute house bill five 19, or to lead entitled Body House Bill five 19 and replace it with first substitute House Bill five 19 unclaimed property modifications by Representative Teuscher.

  3. Committee chair1:23:05

     All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. The bill is substituted before US Representative Teuscher.

  4. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:23:11

     Great. And I, I do have a flyer. Um, my intern can pass up. I'm, I'll be very brief here. Um, the legislature has already passed the, uh, revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, which, uh, as many of you know, the, the, our, our Good State Treasurer administers that. And if, if any unclaimed property is received, um, they have a great website and go through, um, significant efforts to try to get that property back to utahns, um, so that they, they can, uh, get their unclaimed property. Uh, unfortunately in in today's world, we're dealing with different types of assets and one of those types of assets is digital assets. And there isn't, uh, any clarity in the revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act on how to deal with that. And so what you see in house Bill five 19 is, uh, is, is a stat a framework for how the treasurer's office can deal with that type of unclaimed property. And, uh, essentially just mirrors how we treat securities generally. So let me turn some time over to our state Treasurer can add a little bit of color to that.

  5. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer1:24:11

     Thank you. Yeah. Uh, Marlow Oak State Treasurer, and I think, um, I appreciate Representative Teuscher. So work on this. Uh, he summarized a, well, we really just have a, a gap in Utah's unclaimed property law, uh, associated with digital assets. And so this provides a framework for how we treat those assets and, and, uh, gives us the ability to, uh, find custodians, uh, or a custodian that can hold those assets until we liquidate them, similar to how we treat securities today, stocks and bonds, et cetera. So, um, really appreciate, uh, your support on this bill.

  6. Committee chair1:24:45

     Thank you. Does that conclude your presentation? Yes. Okay. We'll go to the committee for questions on the bill.

  7. Unknown speaker1:24:52speaker not certain

     Seeing no questions from the committee, I, I only ask, um, just because I assume we're dealing with digital assets that are held in wallets that are outside of the individual's control. Is that correct? Correct. At a custodian? Mm-hmm. Okay. So, so we're talking about Coinbase or something to that effect. So they're holding there. Um, what is the time period of inactivity for, uh, you know, for the state taking possession of the asset? It's three years similar to other securities. Similar to other, yep. So my question is, how do we separate those that are intentionally, uh, you know, that are intentionally inactive with their wallet? In other words, they're sitting there. So, uh, I will just tell you, so my own Bitcoin collection, uh, I keep, I have some in my own wallet and I have some that is in, you know, in another app, right. I'm not gonna tell everybody. So they go find my app. Um, but, you know, so I hold it in two separate deals. Now, I, the one, uh, that I hold, uh, I believe I've been holding it for six years with little to no activity on that time period. So my fear is that the state would take possession of that asset because I haven't done anything with it. Um, I've just enjoyed it sitting there. How do we protect against that?

  8. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer1:26:09

     So, uh, basically if there are no logins, no trades, no transactions and no contact, that's, that's what would be considered dorm. So I need to log in once a year. Yeah. Okay. And, and I'll, I'll add to that part of what we did in the sub. There was a, a request from Fidelity to come in and say, Hey, can we treat these the same? And so they also send out mailers. So for some reason it doesn't get returned or the, the, the mail gets returned, then that would be a sign. Um, because in some of these cases, like you said, their retirement account, you're kind of, you bought it and you're not gonna wanna look at it for a few years. And so, um, again, it's treated the exact same way that you would treat any of your other security accounts when you went out and bought stock and anything. And then the other thing I think is important to add is that it's the three years before it becomes unclaimed property. So no interaction, I can't find you for three years, but then the treasurer's office will hold that, uh, digital asset in its current form for another three years before they would try to liquidate it.

  9. Unknown speaker1:27:08speaker not certain

     Okay. So it's held, let me, I'm just asking some, it's held, but does its growth freeze for some reason and then the, the growth in newer to the state or, because I know that's what happens in interest bearing accounts. So for example, you know, five a hypothetically a $500, you know, deal that is, you know, is held in state property, I only get the $500 back, but the state gets the benefit of the interest that's held in the $500. Right. So I'm just trying to make sure that we don't create a problem that way.

  10. Marlo Oaks, State Treasurer1:27:40

      Yeah. So with uh, equity for example, the, the stock would be held for three years. The dividends would accrue to the owner. Okay. Over that three year period, it's just at the time of the sale, then there would be no additional appreciation or depreciation of that security. We would hold the dollar value in that person's name.

  11. Unknown speaker1:27:58speaker not certain

      Okay. Okay. That's helpful. Yeah. Okay. I appreciate that. That's, uh, very helpful. I'll just make sure I log in every year at least. So I, I really don't, I usually just look at the price of where things are and, you know, sometimes celebrate and then sometimes not. I most recently uncelebrated when I got into a car accident with A BMW that I bought with BM with Bitcoin only because I figured out how much the BMW was actually worth versus how much the Bitcoin was that I bought it with. But anyway, very sad day actually.

  12. Committee chair1:28:32

      Okay. Uh, with that I don't see any other questions from the committee. We'll take you to the public for public comment. I'm gonna make Alex Jannik from Fidelity come and give us public comment just because for years he sat up here and, you know, did those things, but he's just sitting back there so peacefully. Do you wanna speak in favor of the bill? Okay, just, okay. We have Seth Stewart online anyway, so yeah, just feels Alex is, you know, nobody that ever worked with with that. He's always so quiet. He's like this quiet giant behind the legislature and has been always been, uh, you know, super helpful. We we're sad to lose him, but, uh, it's good to have him back every once in a while, even if he's working for the dark side of the force. Okay. We'll go to Seth Stewart online.

  13. Seth Stewart1:29:18

      Alright. Thank you very much. Mr. Seth Stewart, uh, from American Fork, I'm representing myself. Um, yeah, I have major concerns with this bill. Um, you know, un unclaimed property online, you know, you stuff your, your cash under a mattress and it's been sitting there for too long. So the state government's like, Hey, you better move that money. Um, you know, and, and with respect to, uh, I have concerns with, you know, how is it determined that Utah has jurisdiction, but that's maybe a sidebar compared to the core constitutional issues. And this is a trading tool among other things, even if, even if the state doesn't directly, uh, assert ownership over the unclaimed property within certain, uh, boundaries. But, uh, I, I just don't see any, uh, just ask where's the constitutional authorization for this? You know, the fact that, uh, you know, things are similar, things are being done right now at the federal level doesn't, uh, justify it. You know, you could look at Donald Trump's, uh, president's, uh, strategic Bitcoin reserve, which gives the government power to and leverage in private markets by trading and, and, uh, influencing the price of publicly traded assets and so on. So I'm not seeing, uh, a justification for this and there's not really an enumerated power that this is pursuant to. So, um, I would just say let people keep their own property and whatever is unclaimed is unclaimed. And, uh, you know, if you lose something down a well or something like that, then okay, it's lost. Uh, I don't see any prerogative for the state government to intervene and say, okay, you have to liquidate this or you have to forfeit it, et cetera. So her job position to this bill for all those reasons and quite a few more. So thank you.

  14. Committee chair1:30:48

      Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Appreciate it. Okay. We'll come back to the committee for questions or actions on the bill.

  15. Sen. Harper1:30:59

      Senator Harper. Thank you. Uh, I move that we would favorably recommend House Bill five 19 for substitute to the floor.

  16. Committee chair1:31:08

      Okay. The motions in order you'd like to speak to that.

  17. Unknown speaker1:31:11speaker not certain

      I think it's a good bill. Okay.

  18. Committee chair1:31:13

      Uh, very good. We'll go to the sponsor.

  19. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:31:17

      I, I'll just say, uh, in some of the comments that we heard, I, I don't know if any of you had have had the great, um, uh, feeling of going on to the my Cash Utah dot gov site and having your name show up there and be like, oh, here's $500 that I lost. And I'm so glad that the state grabbed it for me. 'cause otherwise I would never see that money. Um, before there's a number of accounts that I'm sure I set up 10 years ago and bought a little bit of Bitcoin. I actually know that and I can't find it. And I hope one day it shows up here and I can get the, the true value of that because I, I don't have the keys. I don't know where it is. Um, this is just a consumer protection tool and also helps these businesses that really don't know what to do. They're, they're holding this, they're custodians of, of, um, these assets and they want to make sure that people get their, their property back. And this is the tool to be able to do that.

  20. Committee chair1:32:09

      Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

  21. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher1:32:11

      I say remember that James Howell is the guy that, uh, lost his hard drive in a landfill, has been trying to excavate his landfill because he, you know, he can't find his, uh, he can't find his bitcoin hard drive. So, uh, it's a billion dollars sitting out there waiting to be discovered someday in the future. So, okay.

  22. Committee chair1:32:31

      Uh, with that, we'll, uh, we'll take it to the committee. The motion before us is to pass, uh, first substitute house, bill five 19, unclaimed property modification by Representative Teal. In favor, please say Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. Is there anybody online? No. No. Okay. Okay. That passes unanimously before us. This has been unanimous all the way through. Is this Something you'll consider? I'll, I'll, I'll entertain that. Uh, we're getting to that point in the year, um, and so we place it on consent. Okay. Motion before us is to place house Bill five 19 on consent. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? At passage? Unanimously. Thank you very much, representative. Okay.

• Mar 2, 2026 Senate floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (6 turns)

  1. Sen. Kirk A. Cullimore23:28

     Thank you. Utah's Existing unclaimed property law, uh, requires that when property is abandoned for a certain number of years, it must be turned over to the state so that the rightful owner can claim it. Utah's current law covers items like forgotten bank accounts on cash checks, life insurance payouts, safe deposit box contents. What this bill does is it, it updates that to clearly address digital assets like cryptocurrency and other digital only financial assets. So it sets when digital assets are considered abandoned, A di a digital asset is presumed abandoned after three years with no contact or indication of interest from the owner. Uh, this is similar to other financial property. It explains how the state's designated custodian must handle the dig digital assets. What's abandoned? Uh, they must wait three years and provide notice to the apparent owner before liquidating the asset. Um, this includes some practical exceptions, like if custody isn't feasible or the cost exceeds the value. Um, and that is what this bill does.

  2. Sen. Kirk A. Cullimore24:30

     Thank you. Need the need a motion? I'll move that we pass. First substitute house Bill five 19.

  3. President Adams (presiding)24:38

     Thank you. And the question is, shall first substitute House Bill five 19 passed. Roll call vote.

  4. Unknown speaker24:43speaker not certain

     Senator Vickers. Baldy Aye. Lewin Aye. Bramer Aye. Bus? Aye. Colmore Aye. Escamilla Fillmore Grover. Aye. Harper Kinins Aye. Ipson Aye. Johnson Juab McKay Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Aye. Vickers Weiler Wilson Winterton Aye.

  5. President Adams (presiding)25:22

     President Adams Aye. First substitute house Bill five 19.

  6. President Adams (presiding)25:27

     Having received 25 yay votes, zero nay votes, four being absent, passes his body and will be returned to the house for further consideration. It's moved from the consent calendar to the third reading calendar.

• Mar 3, 2026 House floor debate▶ Watch
  Transcript (7 turns)

  1. Speaker (presiding)21:00speaker not certain

     for the signature of the president. Madam Reading Clerk

  2. Reading Clerk21:02

     Per substitute house Bill five 19 Unclaimed property modifications by Representative Teuscher.

  3. Speaker (presiding)21:10

     Representative Teuscher.

  4. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher21:12

     Thank you Mr. Speaker. I move to Concur with the Senate amendments. Thank

  5. Speaker (presiding)21:15

     You representative. That motion is in order. Uh, would you like to speak to it? I

  6. Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher21:19

     Would. Um, these changes came at the request of, uh, some of the banks that, uh, were trying to ensure that there was a consistent process for the regular securities that they treat as well as the digital assets. And so we added some language to make sure that they were treated exactly the same so they wouldn't have to run a different program for securities and for digital assets. Thank you.

  7. Speaker (presiding)21:42

     Thank you representative. The motion before is the House concur with the Senate amendments on HP five 19. Discussion to that none will go ahead and place the motion. The motion will be before. Is the House concur with Senate amendments on first substitute HP five 19? All in favor say aye. A. Any opposed? Will that motion passes voting Now be open for final passage on first substitute HP five 19. Seen, seen all President hand voted. Voting is now closed. First substitute. P five 19 passed this body with 68 yes votes zero, no votes will be sent to the Senate for the signature of the President. Okay. Representatives, were moving to the house.