Income Tax - Subtraction Modification for Military Retirement Income (Keep Our Heroes Home Act)
HB0761 revises Maryland’s Uniform Disposition of Abandoned Property Act in several ways. It expands the types of property covered by the abandoned property laws to include virtual currency, and it adds definitions and procedures for identifying an “apparent owner,” determining owner interest, and handling records in electronic form. The bill also updates the rules for when certain property is presumed abandoned, including bank and financial accounts, insurance proceeds, pension and retirement accounts, money orders, and virtual currency.
A major portion of the bill focuses on insurance and retirement-related property. It creates new procedures for determining when an insured or annuitant is presumed dead using the Social Security Administration Death Master File or a comparable database, and it clarifies when insurers are deemed to have knowledge of death. It also changes the treatment of life, endowment, and annuity proceeds, including rules for automatic-premium-loan provisions and nonforfeiture provisions, and it adds a separate abandonment rule for pension and retirement accounts, including special timing rules tied to age 72 and required distributions.
The bill also modernizes notice and claim procedures for unclaimed property. It allows email-based contact attempts in some circumstances, adjusts when an address is considered invalid, lowers the threshold for required publication of notice from $100 to $50, and changes the claim process so claimants must verify claims and may receive a denial explanation and opportunity to amend. It also authorizes the Comptroller to retain up to $5 million annually for information technology, cybersecurity, customer relationship systems, and an unclaimed property management system, and it expands the Comptroller’s ability to apply unclaimed property to certain debts owed to the State or local governments, including unpaid taxes, before returning property to an owner.
The general sentiment reflected in the bill text is administrative and modernization-oriented rather than ideological. The changes appear aimed at improving the State’s ability to identify owners, process claims, and manage unclaimed property more efficiently, while also capturing new asset types such as virtual currency and better aligning insurance and retirement rules with current recordkeeping and death-verification practices. No committee transcript or vote data was provided, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to indicate broader support or opposition.
The most notable points of potential contention are the expanded State authority over unclaimed property and the new debt-offset provisions. Owners may object to the Comptroller applying unclaimed property valued at $100 or more to outstanding state, county, or municipal debts before payment to the owner, and holders may face additional compliance burdens from the new email, death-master-file, and reporting requirements. The treatment of virtual currency, the shortened or clarified abandonment timelines for certain accounts, and the new claim-verification procedures could also draw scrutiny from financial institutions, insurers, retirement account administrators, and consumer advocates.
HB0761 amends multiple sections of the Commercial Law Article governing abandoned property, adding new definitions for apparent owner, record, gift card, gift certificate, virtual currency, and related terms. It creates new statutory sections for virtual currency abandonment, retirement account abandonment, and death-master-file procedures for insurance policies and annuities, while revising existing abandonment rules for deposits, money orders, insurance proceeds, and claim filing. The bill also changes the Comptroller’s notice threshold, authorizes retention of up to $5 million for technology and cybersecurity costs, and expands the Comptroller’s authority to offset unclaimed property against certain debts owed to the State or local governments.
The bill appears generally favorable and administrative in tone, with the changes framed as modernization of Maryland’s unclaimed property system and improved owner-location and claims processing. The text suggests a policy goal of making the system more efficient and better suited to electronic records, virtual currency, and updated insurance and retirement practices. No committee discussion or vote history was provided, so there is no evidence of recorded opposition or support beyond the bill’s enacted status.
Potential contention centers on the bill’s expansion of State control over unclaimed property, especially the new authority to apply property or sale proceeds to unpaid state, county, or municipal debts before returning funds to owners. Financial institutions, insurers, and retirement plan holders may also object to the added compliance obligations, including annual death-master-file checks, email and registered-mail outreach, and revised claim procedures. Consumer advocates could raise concerns about the treatment of virtual currency, the timing of abandonment for retirement accounts, and whether the new offset rules reduce the amount ultimately returned to rightful owners.