Section 760.631  Identification of Apparent Owners of Abandoned Property Using Other State Databases

a)         The administrator may enter into interagency agreements with the Secretary of State and the Illinois State Board of Elections to identify persons appearing to be owners of abandoned property with databases under the control of the Secretary of State and the Illinois State Board of Elections. These interagency agreements shall include protection of confidential information, data match rules, and other necessary and proper issues. [765 ILCS 1026/15-503(h)(1)]

b)         Except as prohibited by federal law, after January 1, 2022, the administrator may provide the Secretary of State with names and other identifying information of persons appearing to be owners of abandoned property. [765 ILCS 1026/15-503(h)(2)] Consistent with any interagency agreements with the Secretary of State, the administrator will use the last known address as it appears in its respective records of any person reasonably believed to be the apparent owner of abandoned property provided by the Secretary of State to pay apparent owners pursuant to the Act.  [765 ILCS 1026/15-503(h)(2)]  Similar to the tax return identification of apparent owners in Section 760.630, the administrator will provide unclaimed property data to the Secretary of State in order for the Secretary of State to perform the data matching so that the Secretary of State can comply with relevant federal laws concerning data privacy that prevent the administrator from performing the data matching.

c)         The administrator will request that the Illinois State Board of Elections provide electronic data or compilations of voter registration information to the administrator at least annually.  The administrator may use such electronic data or compilations of voter registration information to identify persons appearing to be owners of abandoned property. [765 ILCS 1026/15-503(h)(3)] Unlike the data matching with the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Secretary of State, the Illinois State Board of Elections has the legal authority to provide this data to the administrator, and the administrator may perform the data matching. [10 ILCS 5/1A-25 and 765 ILCS 1026/15-503(h)(3)]

d)         The administrator may deliver, as provided under Section 15-904 of the Act, property or pay the amount owing to a person matched under this Section without the person filing a claim under Section 15-903 of the Act if:

1)         the value of the property that is owed the person is $5,000 or less;

2)         the property is not either tangible property or securities;

3)         the last known address for the person according to the records of the Secretary of State or Illinois State Board of Elections is less than 12 months old; and

4)         the administrator has evidence sufficient to establish that the person who appears in the records of the Secretary of State or Illinois State Board of Elections is the owner of the property and the owner currently resides at the last known address from the Secretary of State or the Illinois State Board of Elections. [765 ILCS 1026/15-503(h)(4)]

e)         If the name, address and other identifying information of the apparent owner in the records of the administrator and the Secretary of State or Illinois State Board of Elections match, there is a presumption that the administrator has sufficient evidence to deliver property or pay the amount owing to the apparent owner.

(Source:  Added at 46 Ill. Reg. 16898, effective September 26, 2022)