Alston & Bird Tax Blog

State legislation

Illinois Stealthily Enacts Version of RUUPA as Part of Budget Bill

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This week, the Illinois General Assembly enacted budget legislation (SB 9) to much fanfare.  Although most news stories will likely focus on the fact that the state has a budget for the first time in several years, the real breaking news in the unclaimed property world is that a version of the 2016 Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act ("RUUPA") was included as part of SB 9.  A RUUPA bill (HB 2603) had previously been introduced and considered in the legislature but had been stagnant since March.  However, Illinois' version of RUUPA is enacted and effective on January 1, 2018, seemingly [...]Read more

Delaware’s Unclaimed Property Overhaul Legislation Awaits the Governor’s Signature

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Exactly two weeks after introduction, Delaware’s major unclaimed property overhaul bill – SB 13 – passed both the Senate and the House of Delaware’s General Assembly on January 26.  The bill is now on the desk of newly inaugurated Governor Carney and is awaiting signature.  We have previously addressed some of the significant features of SB 13 here.  To summarize, SB 13 represents a complete rewrite of the Delaware Escheats Law in reaction to the Temple-Inland decision and other recent unclaimed property developments.  Although SB 13 is inspired by and based in part on the new 2016 [...]Read more

New York Looks to Further Restrict Gift Card Practices

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In December, we wrote about a new gift card law in New York that took effect on Christmas day (http://www.alston.com/advisories/ny-gift-card-legislation/), which was enacted by Senate Bill S. 4771-E. Under that now-effective law: Gift card issuers are prohibited from charging a service fee before the twenty-fifth month of dormancy, and any service fees that are applied after this time must be waived and put back on the card if the card is used within three years of the issue date. No gift card may have an expiration date of earlier than five years from the date the card was issued or the [...]Read more

California Updates Unclaimed Property Law to Recognize Electronic Recurring Bank Account Activity

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On September 22, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2258 into law, which revises California’s Unclaimed Property Law (UPL) to expressly recognize that certain electronic recurring transactions constitute “owner-generated activity” that would prevent accounts held by a banking or financial organization from being considered presumed abandoned.  As described by the bill’s author, AB 2258 effectuates a “simple modernization of the statute,” which will “eliminate unnecessary escheatment notices to be sent from the bank to the account holder that require the account holder to affirm [...]Read more

Retailers, Take Note: Connecticut Adds New Gift Card Cash-Back Requirements

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On June 9, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy signed into law HB 5564, which adds Connecticut to the growing list of states that require gift card sellers or issuers to provide cash back to consumers in certain partial redemption situations.  In particular, HB 5564 (enacted as Public Act No. 16-140) requires a seller or issuer of a gift card to provide the purchaser with either a proof of purchase receipt or a gift receipt for the purchase of such card.  Once the card has been redeemed for goods or services and the remaining balance is less than $3.00, the redeeming seller or issuer must pay the [...]Read more