actually exist in the Treasury. It may be a mere coincidence, but the cash condition
of the State Treasury was $18, 000, 000 better off on August 31, 1958, than the Comptroller's
book balance upon which he has based the estimate of what our condition
will be on August 31 of this year.
This action will give the State full credit for all the monies received and on hand
on the last day of this and all other fiscal years, and I know of no better year than
this to begin this new bookkeeping procedure. It will reduce the anticipated deficit
to $47,000,000.
2. I recommend early enactment of a law providing for the reporting and
delivery to the State Treasury of all abandoned money and other personal property
held by any person or corporation for more than 7 years without knowing or having
heard from the depositers or owners thereof. Thirty-six States have laws of this
nature, known as "Conservator Acts" or "Unclaimed Property Acts, " applying to
disposition of unclaimed bank deposits, and many of the States have comprehensive
laws relating to such funds held also by insurance, pipeline, and other companies.
In a report to me on this subject by the Executive Department Study Committee,
composed of the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, the Comptroller of Public
Accounts, State Auditor, the Governor's Budget Director, and his Fiscal Assistant,
it was conservatively estimated that this law would bring into the State Treasury a
net minimum of $20 million in usable funds during the first reporting year, and that
it would yield at least $2, 500, 000 per year thereafter. This estimate is based on
the experience in other States and is in accordance with the uniform law recommended
on the subject by the Council of State Governments. The theory of this law is based
on the escheat law that we have in Texas (Articles 3272 et seq), which provides for
the escheat of property to the State upon the death of an owner who leaves no will and
12