HB 49: "An Act relating to credit memos, gift certificates, and gift cards, and to unclaimed property; and making a violation of certain gift card prohibitions an unlawful trade practice."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 49 01 "An Act relating to credit memos, gift certificates, and gift cards, and to unclaimed 02 property; and making a violation of certain gift card prohibitions an unlawful trade 03 practice." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 34.45.240 is repealed and reenacted to read: 06 Sec. 34.45.240. Credit memos. A credit memo, issued in the ordinary course 07 of an issuer's business, that remains unclaimed by the owner for more than three years 08 after becoming payable or distributable is presumed abandoned. The amount presumed 09 abandoned is the amount credited to the recipient of the credit memo. 10 * Sec. 2. AS 34.45.760(11) is amended to read: 11 (11) "intangible property" 12 (A) includes 13 (i) money, checks, drafts, warrants, deposits, interest, 14 dividends, and income;
01 (ii) credit balances, customer overpayments, [GIFT 02 CERTIFICATES,] security deposits, refunds, credit memos, unpaid 03 wages, and unidentified remittances; 04 (iii) stocks and other intangible equity interests in 05 business associations; 06 (iv) money deposited to redeem stocks, bonds, coupons, 07 and other securities, or to make distributions; 08 (v) amounts due and payable under the terms of 09 insurance policies; 10 (vi) amounts distributable from a trust or custodial fund 11 established under a plan to provide health, welfare, pension, vacation, 12 severance, retirement, death, stock purchase, profit-sharing, employee 13 savings, supplemental unemployment insurance, or similar benefits; 14 and 15 (vii) amounts due and payable as mineral proceeds; 16 (B) does not include 17 (i) unused airline tickets; 18 (ii) shares of stock issued by a corporation organized 19 under 43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq. (Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) or 20 unclaimed dividends payable on the shares of stock; [OR] 21 (iii) overpaid contributions by employers to the 22 unemployment compensation fund under AS 23.20.130; or 23 (iv) gift cards; in this sub-subparagraph, "gift 24 cards" has the meaning given in AS 45.45.940; 25 * Sec. 3. AS 45.45 is amended by adding a new section to article 12 to read: 26 Sec. 45.45.940. Gift cards. (a) A person may not sell or offer to sell a gift card 27 unless the 28 (1) gift card is redeemable at full face value for seven years or more 29 after the gift card's date of issuance; and 30 (2) gift card's date of issuance and expiration date are clearly 31 (A) identified on the face of the gift card; or
01 (B) printed, if the gift card is an electronic card with a banked 02 dollar value, on a sales receipt transferred to the buyer or another holder of the 03 electronic card or available through an Internet site or a toll-free telephone line. 04 (b) A person may not sell or offer to sell a gift card that imposes dormancy 05 fees, latency fees, administrative fees, periodic fees, service fees, or other fees that 06 have the effect of reducing the total amount for which the holder may redeem a gift 07 card. 08 (c) A person may not refuse to redeem a gift card before it has reached the 09 expiration date. 10 (d) If a gift card does not comply with (a)(2) of this section, the gift card does 11 not have an expiration date. 12 (e) When 90 percent of a gift card has been redeemed, the holder of the gift 13 card shall be paid the balance in cash if the holder elects to have the balance paid in 14 cash. 15 (f) In this section, 16 (1) "device" includes an electronic card, but does not mean an access 17 number or authorization code, whether manually or electronically dialed, to make 18 calls; 19 (2) "gift card" means a device that is 20 (A) purchased by a buyer for use by a person other than the 21 buyer; and 22 (B) usable up to its face amount instead of cash in exchange for 23 goods or services supplied by a seller. 24 * Sec. 4. AS 45.50.471(b) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 25 (52) violating AS 45.45.940 (gift cards). 26 * Sec. 5. AS 34.45.760(8) is repealed.