1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to commerce; regulating unclaimed property; 
  1.3             authorizing a dormancy charge for money orders; 
  1.4             defining a term; amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, 
  1.5             section 345.31, by adding a subdivision; proposing 
  1.6             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 345. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 345.31, is 
  1.9   amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 6a.  [MONEY ORDER.] "Money order" includes an express 
  1.11  money order and a personal money order, on which the remitter is 
  1.12  the purchaser.  The term does not include a bank order or any 
  1.13  other instrument sold by a financial organization if the seller 
  1.14  has obtained the name and address of the payee. 
  1.15     Sec. 2.  [345.321] [DORMANCY CHARGE FOR MONEY ORDERS.] 
  1.16     Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a holder may 
  1.17  annually deduct, from a money order presumed abandoned, a charge 
  1.18  imposed by reason of the owner's failure to claim the property 
  1.19  within a specified time.  The holder may deduct the charge only 
  1.20  if:  (1) there is a valid and enforceable written contract 
  1.21  between the holder and the owner under which the holder may 
  1.22  impose the charge; (2) the holder regularly imposes the charge; 
  1.23  and (3) the charge is not regularly reversed or otherwise 
  1.24  canceled.  The total amount of the deduction is limited to an 
  1.25  amount that is not unconscionable. 
  1.26     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.1      Section 2 is effective the day following final enactment.