PROPOSAL WOULD ALLOW STATE TO AUTOMATICALLY RETURN PROPERTY   

Pennsylvania’s treasurer wants to take the burden off state residents for getting unclaimed money. Roughly one in ten residents have misplaced money that the state is holding. To get it back, they must search for their name in a public database then file a claim. State Treasurer Stacy Garrity has proposed legislation that would allow the state to automatically return some of those unclaimed funds to people with no action required on their part. Garrity says only amounts under five-thousand dollars with a sole owner who is still alive would qualify. In higher-value cases, residents would still have to file claims.