Treasurer Shawn Wooden today urged lawmakers to pass new legislation that would implement recommendations by his office to improve the unclaimed property program.
The program has had its share of criticism.
An investigation by the CT Mirror found that in the past two fiscal years, the Treasurer’s office received more than $2.3 billion in unclaimed property, but returned less than 37% of it to its owners.
The new legislation would allow for the automatic payment of unclaimed property valued under $2,500 for sole property owners. But it would not require the state to alert people if they are owed money.
Wooden pushed back at criticism of the unclaimed property program.
“Any narrative that suggests that the program hasn't been a good program is just false,” he said.
