I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4198 
To establish a program to reunite bondholders with matured unredeemed 
United States savings bonds. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 3, 2009 
Ms. BERKLEY (for herself, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. WALDEN, 
and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To establish a program to reunite bondholders with matured 
unredeemed United States savings bonds. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unclaimed Savings 
Bond Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) To maintain public confidence in the United 
States savings bond program, sound public policy fa-
vors diligent and productive efforts to locate the 
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owners of matured unredeemed savings bonds and 
return 
to 
such 
owners 
the 
more 
than 
$16,500,000,000 in associated bond proceeds. 
(2) The Government does not have an orga-
nized program to identify the owners of all matured 
unredeemed savings bonds and return to such own-
ers their bond proceeds. 
(3) All 50 States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the United 
States Virgin Islands operate unclaimed property 
programs that return to rightful owners over 
$1,500,000,000 of property annually, and but for 
the efforts of State unclaimed property programs, 
this property would almost certainly remain lost. 
(4) Providing assistance to State unclaimed 
property programs to help return the proceeds of 
matured savings bonds to their rightful owners 
would benefit owners of savings bonds, stimulate the 
economy, and recognize the important, longstanding 
role of these programs in consumer protection. 
(5) For the Government to develop and admin-
ister an unclaimed property program like the suc-
cessful ones that States already have would be cost-
ly, duplicative, and administratively burdensome, 
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and would involve the Government in an area that 
historically has been the province of the States. 
(6) 
Although 
the 
proceeds 
of 
matured 
unredeemed savings bonds are held in the United 
States Treasury, these proceeds are not Federal 
funds and belong to bond owners, not the Federal 
Government. 
(7) Income taxes on matured savings bonds are 
due at final maturity. To promote equity among all 
taxpayers, estimated taxes due should be withheld 
from savings bond proceeds in Federal Government 
possession. 
SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM TO RETURN THE PRO-
CEEDS OF MATURED UNREDEEMED U.S. SAV-
INGS BONDS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
DEMONSTRATION
PRO-
GRAM.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to the succeeding 
provisions of this section, beginning in the first fiscal 
year beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary shall conduct a demonstra-
tion program (referred to in this section as the 
‘‘demonstration program’’) under which the Sec-
retary— 
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(A) attempts to identify and locate the 
owners of specified unredeemed savings bonds, 
and 
(B) provides assistance to States in the 
form of bondholder location and assistance 
grants (as defined in subsection (b)) for the 
purpose of owner location and notification ac-
tivities with respect to such bonds. 
(2) PARTICIPATION IN DEMONSTRATION PRO-
GRAM.—A State electing to participate in the dem-
onstration program for any fiscal year by receiving 
a bondholder location and assistance grant shall no-
tify the Secretary of such election on or before Sep-
tember 1 of the fiscal year preceding such fiscal year 
by filing a grant application with the Secretary, in 
such manner and accompanied by such information 
as the Secretary may reasonably require. 
(3) DIRECT OUTREACH.—Under the demonstra-
tion program, the Secretary shall attempt to locate 
the owners of specified unredeemed savings bonds 
for which the registered address (as determined 
under subsection (c)(2)(C)(i)(II)) is located in a 
State not participating in the demonstration pro-
gram in the fiscal year in which such bond would 
otherwise have been referred to such State under 
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subsection (c)(2)(C)(iii), or is not located in any 
State. 
(4) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There is authorized and appropriated from the gen-
eral fund of the Treasury such sums as are nec-
essary to carry out the purposes of this section. 
Such sums shall be available until expended. 
(5) REPORT
TO
CONGRESS.—The Secretary 
shall report to Congress not later than October 31 
of each fiscal year regarding the program established 
under this subsection. Such report, which may be 
combined with other reports of the Secretary to Con-
gress, shall include— 
(A) a description of the actions taken 
under this subsection in the preceding fiscal 
year, 
(B) for each State, the number of specified 
unredeemed savings bonds referred to such 
State during the preceding fiscal year, 
(C) for each State, the amount and num-
ber of such bonds referred to such State in all 
fiscal years, by year of referral, that were re-
deemed in the preceding fiscal year, 
(D) the average amount of time between 
the receipt of valid claims for such bonds and 
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the issuance of payment to redeem such bonds, 
and 
(E) the States receiving a bondholder loca-
tion and assistance grant under the demonstra-
tion program during the preceding fiscal years 
of such program, the total number of such 
grants awarded during such fiscal years, and 
the total amount of grant funds distributed 
under subsection (b)(2) during such fiscal 
years. 
(b) BONDHOLDER
LOCATION
AND
ASSISTANCE 
GRANTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the dem-
onstration program established under subsection (a), 
a bondholder location and assistance grant is a 
grant issued by the Secretary to a State for the pur-
pose of locating the owners of specified unredeemed 
savings bonds referred to the State as provided in 
subsection (c)(2)(C)(iii) and providing the owners of 
such bonds with assistance in claiming the proceeds 
of such bonds. 
(2) AWARDING
OF
GRANTS.—Subject to the 
availability of funds, the Secretary shall make an 
award in each fiscal year of a bondholder location 
and assistance grant under the demonstration pro-
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gram established under subsection (a) to any State 
that has submitted for such fiscal year a grant ap-
plication under paragraph (2) of such subsection 
that satisfies all requirements stipulated by the Sec-
retary for such applications. The funds under such 
grant shall be made available to the State within 30 
days of the later of the start of such fiscal year or 
the appropriation of funds for the demonstration 
program for such fiscal year. 
(3) GRANT
AMOUNT.—The amount of each 
bondholder location and assistance grant awarded to 
a State for any fiscal year shall be an amount equal 
to the product of— 
(A) the number of bonds that will be re-
ferred to such State in such fiscal year, as esti-
mated by the Secretary based on the rec-
ommendation of the State coordinator under 
subsection (c)(2)(C)(i), and 
(B) $30. 
Such amount to be made available to the State until 
expended. 
(4) GRANT ACTIVITIES.— 
(A) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES.—A State re-
ceiving a bondholder location and assistance 
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grant in any fiscal year shall conduct the fol-
lowing activities under such grant in such year: 
(i) 
WRITTEN
NOTIFICATION
EF-
FORTS.—Written notification, mailed to 
each owner of record of each specified 
unredeemed savings bond referred to the 
State with respect to whom an address 
suitable for the delivery of mail can be de-
termined, of— 
(I) the existence of such bond, 
(II) the fact that such bond is no 
longer earning interest, and 
(III) the fact that the bond may 
be redeemed through agents of the 
Department of the Treasury. 
(ii) INCLUSION
IN
STATE
DATA-
BASES.—In the case of any State that op-
erates a searchable database of unclaimed 
property, inclusion in such database of in-
formation about each specified unredeemed 
savings bond referred to the State and the 
owner of such bond. 
(B) OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES.—In addition to 
the activities required under subparagraph (A), 
funds received by a State under a bondholder 
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