Operation Rightful Owner:

Federal Bill To Bring $115 Million To Nebraska Residents

Lincoln, Neb. –  A bill filed in Congress would reunite millions of Americans with matured U.S. Savings Bonds, according to Nebraska State Treasurer Shane Osborn. The Unredeemed U.S. Savings Bond Act of 2009 (Operation Rightful Owner), sponsored by Sens. Jay Rockefeller (W.V.) and Pat Roberts (Kan.), creates a state-federal partnership to help find the owners of more than 40 million savings bonds with a value of more than $16.5 billion.

“This bill is the first step towards releasing over $115 million in lost funds to 280,000 Nebraska residents,” Osborn said. Osborn, who is also the President of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, said that when savings bonds are issued, the Bureau of the Public Debt collects the name and address of the bond owner. These names and addresses are literally buried within five billion microfilm issuance records.

“This money isn't owed to the federal government; it's money that hard-working and well-intentioned Americans have invested in their government and deserve to have back,” Osborn said. “This bill would provide our country with a $16 billion stimulus package at a time when it’s needed most.”

Currently, U.S. Savings Bonds are catalogued by certificate number and not by name. So if an individual loses their certificate or is otherwise unable to produce the certificate number they are prohibited from claiming their money.

Operation Rightful Owner would call for the U.S. government to open up its records pertaining to savings bonds to state unclaimed property offices. The information would be put into a national database so that states could locate residents and tell them their bonds have matured and are ready to be retrieved.

“I am very pleased to join my colleagues across the nation in supporting this bill that would partner the federal government with state unclaimed property programs to find the owners of these bonds,” Osborn said. “I encourage all Nebraskans to contact Sens. Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns and encourage them to support Operation Rightful Owner.”