Treatment of abandoned employee retirement accounts under a retirement system of a 1st class city

What it does

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

Under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act, all intangible property held by a governmental subdivision or agency that remains unclaimed for more than a year after it becomes payable or distributable is presumed abandoned. Once intangible property is presumed abandoned, it is subject to the custody of the state as unclaimed property. This bill provides that funds held in employee accounts of a retirement system of a 1st class city, which become abandoned, are not subject to the custody of the state as unclaimed property, but may be retained by the retirement system for purposes of reducing employer funding obligations to the retirement system.

(Currently, the only retirement system of a 1st class city is the City of Milwaukee Employes' Retirement System.) The bill specifically authorizes the board of any retirement system of a 1st class city to devise rules and regulations for determining the conditions under which employee retirement accounts are presumed abandoned and for determining the manner in which funds in the abandoned employee retirement accounts may be used to reduce employer funding obligations to the retirement system.

Who's behind it

4 senators are its authors⁠. 3 are Democrats and 1 is a Republican.

9 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.

What it would cost

State agencies filed a cost estimate. Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

• Fiscal Estimate From ETF
• Fiscal Estimate From TREAS