HB 1127 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Modifying provisions of the revised uniform unclaimed property act.

HB 1127 clarifies when money in prearranged funeral service contracts becomes unclaimed property, changing the abandonment timeline from 50 years to a 3-year presumption. It specifies that funds are presumed abandoned three years after the beneficiary's death (using death certificates or social security records), when the beneficiary would turn 107, or 50 years after the contract was signed. The bill modifies reporting requirements for funeral establishments and defines key terms like "contract beneficiary" and "funeral establishment" to streamline the process. This directly affects funeral service providers, the Department of Revenue, and families seeking unclaimed funds from prearranged contracts.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Jan 12, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill Substitute Bill · 8 edits
MODERATE
This bill updates Washington's unclaimed property laws to clarify rules for funeral service contracts, adjust reporting deadlines, and modernize definitions. It extends the reporting deadline for certain property types from six months to one year, lowers the monetary threshold for owner notices from $75 to $50, and adds specific rules for virtual currency and stored value cards. The bill also reorganizes section numbers and shifts the effective date for several new reporting and notice requirements to January 1, 2026.
Scope change
The bill expands the scope of unclaimed property reporting to include virtual currency and clarifies the definition of 'prearrangement funeral service contracts' to ensure consistent application across all contract types. It also broadens the applicability of new reporting deadlines to various property types previously not explicitly covered or covered with shorter timelines.
REQUIREMENT

Extended the reporting deadline for excess proceeds from self-service storage sales and excess income from tenant property sales from six months to one year after the event.

Lowered the minimum value threshold for sending owner notification letters from $75 to $50, ensuring owners receive notice on smaller amounts of unclaimed property.

Added new requirements for holders to liquidate virtual currency within 30 days before filing reports and to report the liquidated proceeds.

Removed the requirement that dormancy charges must be authorized by a valid contract between the holder and owner, allowing charges based on other factors if not unconscionable.

Added a new definition for 'stored value card' to clarify that the net card value is the amount presumed abandoned.

DEFINITION

Added specific definitions for 'contract beneficiary', 'contract purchaser', and 'funeral establishment' to clarify who owns prearranged funeral contracts for reporting purposes.

Updated the definition of 'prearrangement funeral service contract' to explicitly state the obligation to furnish services upon the death of the named person.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date for new reporting and notice requirements from January 1, 2026 (Sections 7 and 9-11) to January 1, 2026 (Sections 8-12), while moving other sections to apply retroactively to 2023.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Jan 12, 2026
Introduced
By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.
lower
Feb 20, 2025
Committee
Referred to Rules 2 Review.
lower
Feb 18, 2025
Lower · Passed
Minority; without recommendation.
lower
Feb 18, 2025
Lower · Passed
Executive action taken in the House Committee on Finance at 8:00 AM.
lower
Feb 11, 2025
Lower · Passed
Public hearing in the House Committee on Finance at 8:00 AM.
lower
1 primary · 3 co-sponsors

Sponsors