Forgotten wages could stay claimable for seven years

In California, a proposal from Senator Roger Niello would give people more time to recover forgotten wages, old bank balances and other dormant property before the state takes it over. The bill would generally keep property from being treated as abandoned until seven years after the last contact with the owner, and it would pay interest from the day a claim is filed until the property is returned.

A longer clock before the state steps in

The change would standardize the dormancy clock across forms of property at seven years from the last contact with the owner. That means California would have to wait longer before taking custody of money or other assets that have gone untouched, instead of applying shorter timelines in different situations.

The bill also ties unclaimed wages and salaries to that same seven-year period, measured after they become payable. For workers, that means pay that sits uncollected would have a longer runway before it can be treated as abandoned.

Keeping property in its original form

The proposal would also change what happens after the state takes in dormant property. The Controller would have to keep escheated property, the legal term for property turned over to the state, in the form in which it was received.

So cash would stay cash. Property received in another form would not be liquidated first and turned into a one-size-fits-all payout. That matters for owners who want what they lost back, not just the dollar value after the state has handled it.

What comes back when a claim is filed

The bill’s other practical change is interest. If an owner files a claim, the state would owe interest from that day until the property is returned. That gives claimants more than the principal amount they are trying to recover.

Taken together, the changes are meant to make unclaimed property less punishing for people who eventually come forward. They would have more time to notice what is missing, and a better chance of getting something closer to full value back when they do.