New Jersey-2010-A2133-Introduced

An Act concerning unclaimed property and amending R.S.46:30B-6.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. R.S.46:30B-6 is amended to read as follows:

46:30B-6. As used in this chapter:

a. "Administrator" means the Treasurer of the State of New Jersey, any individual serving as the Acting Treasurer in the absence of the appointed Treasurer, and any State employee to whom the Treasurer has delegated authority to administer the provisions of this chapter and to execute any pertinent documents;

b. "Apparent owner" means the person whose name appears on the records of the holder as the person entitled to property held, issued, or owing by the holder;

c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2002, c.35).

d. "Business association" means a corporation, joint stock company, investment company, business trust, partnership, unincorporated association, joint venture, limited liability company, safe deposit company, safekeeping depository, financial organization, insurance company, mutual fund, utility or other business entity consisting of one or more persons, whether or not for profit;

e. "Domicile" means the state of incorporation of a corporation and the state of the principal place of business of an unincorporated person;

f. "Financial organization" means a savings and loan association, building and loan association, credit union, savings bank, industrial bank, bank, banking organization, trust company, safe deposit company, private banker, or any organization defined by other law as a bank or banking organization;

g. "Holder" means a person, wherever organized or domiciled, who is the original obligor indebted to another on an obligation;

h. "Insurance company" means an association, corporation, fraternal or mutual benefit organization, whether or not for profit, which is engaged in providing insurance coverage, including accident, burial, casualty, credit life, contract performance, dental, fidelity, fire, health, hospitalization, illness, life (including endowments and annuities), malpractice, marine, mortgage, surety, and wage protection insurance;

i. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2002, c.35).

j. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2002, c.35).

k. "Owner" means a person having a legal or equitable interest in property subject to this chapter or the person's legal representative and includes, but is not limited to, a depositor in the case of a deposit, a beneficiary in the case of a trust other than a deposit in trust, and a creditor, claimant, or payee in the case of other property;

l. "Person" means an individual, business association, state or other government, governmental subdivision or agency, public corporation, public authority, estate, trust, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity;

m. "State" means any state in the United States, district, commonwealth, territory, insular possession, or any other area subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;

n. "Utility" means a person who owns or operates for public use any plant, equipment, property, franchise, or license for the transmission of communications or the production, storage, transmission, sale, delivery, or furnishing of electricity, water, steam, or gas;

o. "Mineral" means gas, oil, coal, other gaseous, liquid and solid hydrocarbons, oil shale, cement material, sand and gravel, road material, building stone, chemical raw material, gemstone, fissionable and nonfissionable ores, colloidal and other clay, steam and other geothermal resources, or any other substance defined as a mineral by the law of this State;

p. "Mineral proceeds" means amounts payable for the extraction, production, or sale of minerals, or, upon the abandonment of those payments, all payments that become payable thereafter, and includes, but is not limited to, amounts payable:

for the acquisition and retention of a mineral lease, including bonuses, royalties, compensatory royalties, shut-in royalties, minimum royalties, and delay rentals;

for the extraction, production, or sale of minerals, including net revenue interests, royalties, overriding royalties, extraction payments, and production payments; and

under an agreement of option, including a joint operating agreement, pooling agreement, and farm-out agreement;

q. "Money order" means an express money order and a personal money order, on which the remitter is the purchaser;

r. "Property" means tangible property described in R.S.46:30B-45 or a fixed and certain interest in intangible property that is held, issued, or owed in the course of a holder's business, or by a government, government subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, and all income or increments therefrom, and includes property that is referred to as or evidenced by:

money, a check, draft, deposit, interest, or dividend;

credit balance, customer's overpayment, security deposit except for a security deposit subject to the requirements of section 3 of P.L.1971, c.223 (C.46:8-21.1), refund, credit memorandum, unpaid wage, unused ticket, mineral proceeds or unidentified remittance;

stock or other evidence of ownership of an interest in a business association or financial organization;

a bond, debenture, note, or other evidence of indebtedness;

money deposited to redeem stock, bonds, coupons, or other securities or distributions;

an amount due and payable under the terms of an annuity or insurance policy, including policies providing life insurance, property and casualty insurance, workers compensation insurance, or health and disability insurance; and

an amount distributable from a trust or custodial fund established under a plan to provide health, welfare, pension, vacation, severance, retirement, death stock purchase, profit sharing, employee savings, supplemental unemployment, insurance, or similar benefits; and

s. "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(cf: P.L.2002, c.35, s.3)

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill exempts security deposits by residential tenants from the definition of "property" in the "Uniform Unclaimed Property Act," R.S.46:30B-1 et seq., in order to prevent those tenant security deposits from being presumed abandoned under the provisions of the law.