Congress shields financial firms from returning forgotten customer assets to states
H.R. 8338 — SAFER Act of 2026 · Filed by Sam Liccardo (D-CA) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prevents financial institutions from turning over customers' securities, digital assets, and investment accounts to state governments under unclaimed property (escheatment) laws unless very specific conditions are met: for deceased individuals, the institution must have confirmation of death at least 3 years prior and no estate representative has claimed the asset in that time; for non-individual owners, there must be 5 years of no contact. The bill also requires financial institutions to periodically check death databases for retirement-age account holders. The effect is to keep dormant investment accounts in private custody longer, delaying or preventing states from claiming them as unclaimed property.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a preemption of state escheatment law that extends the time financial institutions may hold dormant customer assets before surrendering them to state unclaimed property programs. The framing as 'preventing premature seizure' masks a substantive shift in custody rights from states to private financial institutions.
What the text implies
- Financial institutions gain extended use of dormant account assets and their proceeds (dividends, interest, investment returns) during the extended holding period, creating an implicit subsidy to custodians.
- State unclaimed property programs, which reunite citizens with forgotten assets, face reduced revenue and reduced ability to fulfill their public mission of asset recovery.
- The 3–5 year windows may expire before heirs or beneficiaries discover the account exists, permanently forfeiting inheritance rights and shifting wealth to financial institutions.
- Retirement-age account holders are singled out for death-checking, but the bill does not require proactive outreach to living owners—only checking if they are dead—leaving dormant accounts untouched.
- Digital assets and cryptocurrency holdings are included, extending the shield to a volatile and less-regulated asset class where custody and valuation disputes are common.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens lose access to a long-standing consumer protection: state unclaimed property programs that locate and return forgotten assets to owners or their heirs. By raising barriers to escheatment and extending the time assets remain in private custody, the bill shifts power from states (which have fiduciary duty to return property) to financial institutions (which may profit from holding dormant accounts or investing their proceeds). Citizens with forgotten accounts face longer delays i
Who stands to gain
- financial institutions (custodians of securities and digital assets)
- transfer agents
- centralized digital asset exchanges
- investment account custodians
Named in the bill
AIG, FBK, FMAO, PFG, PRU, financial institutions, transfer agents, centralized digital asset exchanges, state governments, Internal Revenue Code Section 401(9), Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 — and 1 more
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 3 Democrats.
- Apr 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
9 lobbying clients named this bill on 9 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $5,110,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 16 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 89% of bills with at least one filing.
Sam Liccardo, the sponsor, reported $724,267 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $4,000 of that came from 2 PACs tied to these lobbying clients.
- Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association — $1,930,000 on 1 filing
- Investment Company Institute — $1,190,000 on 1 filing
- Fmr LLC — $660,000 on 1 filing
- Charles Schwab Corporation — $480,000 on 1 filing
- Primerica Life Insurance Company — $390,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,240 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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