Sacramento – Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, applauds Governor Jerry Brown’s signature on a measure expanding the state’s ability to connect Californians with what is rightfully theirs.

Currently the state is sitting on almost $8 billion of unclaimed property belonging to individuals or businesses.

Assembly Bill 772, by Assemblyman Tom Daly (D-Anaheim) and Wilk would allow the government to use social media as well as newspapers to publish information on how to go about claiming that property.

“Since learning of the billions of dollars that Californians have in unclaimed property it has always been my goal to create an easier way for Californians to put what is rightfully theirs back in their pocket,” Wilk said. “I have sponsored workshops in the district to walk people through this process in the hopes they discover money owed to them. This bill is a natural extension of my efforts to reconnect people with their money.”

Every year, the state controller acquires unclaimed property through California’s Unclaimed Property Law, which requires corporations, financial institutions and insurance companies to deliver unclaimed property to the state controller annually.

Savings or checking accounts, stocks, checks and safety deposit box contents are the most common types of property that have been left unclaimed.

“We now live in the 21st Century,” Wilk said. “There is no reason the state controller shouldn’t be allowed to use social media as well as newspapers to let people know how to claim property. Personally, I enjoy reading the newspaper every day but only a dinosaur would think it’s the only way people get information nowadays.”

To find out if any of this money belongs to you, visit www.sco.ca.gov and search the Unclaimed Property Database.