Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity stood in a purple suit and gold blouse six days into her second term, surrounded by rows of steel filing cabinets and towering gates that make up the state treasury vault. The journey to the sheltered involves a strange, old-fashioned elevator that blows blasts of icy air as it lowers.
The vault, which has 870 drawers in six cages, is filled with property that has been abandoned, lost or otherwise separated from Pennsylvania taxpayers. The currently unclaimed batch includes: lost Civil War letters, family heirlooms left in sheltered deposit boxes, a few guitars from police evidence that appear to have autographs from musicians from Guns and Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Rolling Stones, and a damaged drum set that was left in the dormitory.
Garrity, who was re-elected in November amid Republicans’ widespread success in Pennsylvania, he loves talking about unclaimed property. Every year he visits all 67 counties and discusses this topic.
The state has approximately $4.5 billion in assets, including $2.96 billion attributable to individuals or businesses with Pennsylvania addresses. During her first term, Garrity’s team earned $848 million. Unclaimed checks and rebates are held in the Treasury bank account.
She walked around the vault like an experienced museum guide, knowing exactly which drawer contained the remaining pieces of the silver set. One of her favorite unclaimed items is a rhinestone necklace with a enormous “B” pendant that came from the police evidence locker and matched the shiny strappy heels she wore on a frosty January morning.
As an army veteran, he pays special attention proud of military decorations. During his service, Garrity was called an “Angel of the Desert” for his humane approach to prisoners at Camp Bucca in Iraq, according to a 2004 National Public Radio report.
“We basically have medals from every branch of service, every conflict,” she said. “To date, since taking office, I have returned 453, including 11 Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars. … The return of decorations is very close to my heart.”
One of 10 According to the state of Pennsylvania, they have unclaimed properties with an average value of about $1,600. Many people don’t even realize they have them, and Garrity is well aware of the impact an unexpected check can have on a struggling Pennsylvania family.
Garrity herself had rebate checks to collect when she started the mail and wanted to see how long it would take so that the staff could process it, I didn’t tell anyone in the office. It stated that it was taking too long, so its employees found a fault in the newly upgraded system, which they then set about fixing.
He checks them, seeing her name and surname on them
Returning unclaimed property is a common and popular power for state treasurers, which partly explains why the office can be a stepping stone to higher office – as it was for former Senator Bob Casey.
Garrity’s term will be circumscribed in January 2029, and the gubernatorial election will be held in November 2026, midway through his second term. She hasn’t said whether she’ll run for governor – or any other position – but she hasn’t ruled it out either.
She said she is currently focused on “being the best treasurer I can be for the people of Pennsylvania.”
“Serving in the Army has been the honor of my life, but being Pennsylvania State Treasurer is a close second,” she added. “So we were on a roll. I want to continue, just do good things for the people of Pennsylvania, and then, you know, we’ll see.”
Garrity just broke the record for the most votes received by a statewide candidate, surpassing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2020 attorney general win.
Due to a recent law change that Garrity championed during her first term, the state can now write checks for up to $500 for unclaimed property without the person having to first file a claim. The checks, like all treasury checks, bear Garrity’s name. And this cannot harm her popularity.
Garrity attributes her record vote total to the continued employment of the previous treasurer (Democrat Joe Torsella), her willingness to work across the street and her outreach efforts at community events, manufacturing plants and universities across the state.
Garrity, an ally of President Donald Trump who repeats her “drill, baby, drill” rhetoric with a smile, said she was criticized for retaining employees when she started her position in 2021.
“I said, ‘I commanded a battalion in a war zone, I think I can put together a staff,’” she said. “…I come from the private sector, so I thought I would work with a lot of bureaucrats. They are not. These are dedicated public servants who just want to help the people of Pennsylvania.”
One employee described Garrity, who lives in Bradford on the state’s northern border, as having “boundless energy.”
And while she is wary about her political future, she has taken a stance on foreign policy through her investment decisions for Pennsylvania. She sold $2.8 million in Russian companies in 2022 after this country’s invasion of Ukraine, bought an additional $20 million Israel’s bonds following the October 7 Hamas attack and divested most of its China-linked state securities for geopolitical and human rights reasons.
“I said, ‘You don’t want to aid your voters?'”
Garrity’s new ability as treasurer to pass checks to voters without claims is the result of a bill she championed during her first term. The law went into effect with unanimous support in July, but only went into effect last week.
“I always want things to move faster than they did in Harrisburg,” Garrity said. Waving widely to the staff in her spacious and well-appointed office, she said, “These guys will know.”
Politics played a role in negotiations. Democratic state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, who represents Erie and is chairman of the House Policy Committee, was poised to challenge Garrity in the general election — though he ultimately lost in his party’s primary — and Democrats he probably didn’t want the Republican candidate to send checks to voters in an election year. Garrity said it made sense to start the program in the new calendar year, but she wasn’t happy with the wait.
Garrity said a similar program already exists in 14 other states and has different monetary limits. Garrity wanted to be able to send up to $5,000, but when lawmakers proposed lowering the limit to $100, they settled on $500.
“I was very irritated,” she said. “I said, ‘You don’t want to aid your voters?'”
He plans to ask the Legislature to raise that limit every year.
An initial batch of 10,000 letters will be sent to Pennsylvania residents to confirm addresses later this month, with checks mailed 30-45 days later. Garrity said her office plans to send more letters each quarter this year, about 70,000 in total.
More work to be done with her ‘Republican friends’
Garrity said the only effort she did pursue that failed during her first term was the Keystone Saves program, a private-public partnership that would have created a retirement savings program for Pennsylvanians who do not have access to access due to his work.
She said 44% of the state’s private sector workers do not work for a company offering a retirement plan and that social services for unprepared retirees are costly to the state.
The National Federation of Independent Business opposes the proposal, but Garrity says it appeals to small businesses that don’t have enough bandwidth to create their own program.
“I tried really hard to top it,” she said. “We weren’t successful. But we’re looking at, you know, different ways to make it more attractive to my Republican friends, and that would mean basically maybe removing the mandate. I think that’s the problem.”
She mentioned her impatience again.
“Sometimes things take a little longer,” she said. “…My parents will tell you, it just makes me double down and push harder in the next session.”
This story has been updated to clarify the total amount of assets under management by Garrity’s office.
