Stacy Garrity on being impatient, Pa.’s unclaimed property problem, and the governor’s race
Stacy Garrity will start her term preparing to send out checks up to $500 to Pennsylvanians with unclaimed property.
Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity stood in her purple suit and gold blouse six days before the start of her second term, surrounded by the rows of steel file cabinets and tall gates that make up the state treasury vault. The journey down to the safe involves an eerie old-fashioned elevator with gusts of cold air rushing in as it lowers.
The vault, which has 870 drawers in six caged rooms, is filled with property abandoned, lost or otherwise separated from Pennsylvania taxpayers. Right now the unclaimed lot includes: lost Civil War letters, family heirlooms left in safe-deposit boxes, a few guitars from police evidence that appear to be autographed by musicians from Guns and Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Rolling Stones, and a damaged drum set that was left in a college dorm.
Garrity, who won reelection in November as part of Republicans’ widespread successes in Pennsylvania, loves to talk about unclaimed property. She visits all 67 counties every year discussing it.
The state holds $2.96 billion in value across 21.68 million properties, and Garrity’s team returned $848 million worth during her first term. Unclaimed checks and rebates are kept in a Treasury bank account.
She gave a tour of the vault like a seasoned museum guide, knowing exactly which drawer had the remaining pieces of a silver set displayed on a table. One of her favorite unclaimed items is a rhinestone necklace with a oversize “B” pendent that came from a police evidence locker and matched the strappy sparkly heels she wore inside on a frigid January morning.
As an Army veteran, she takes particular pride in the military decorations. During her service, Garrity was nicknamed “the Angel of the Desert” for her humane approach to prisoners at Camp Bucca in Iraq, according to a National Public Radio report from 2004.
“We basically have medals from every branch of service, every conflict,” she said. “And so far, since taking office, I’ve returned 453, including 11 Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars. … Returning the decorations is pretty near and dear to my heart.”
One out of 10 Pennsylvanians had unclaimed property, with an average of about $1,600. Many people don’t even realize they have it, and Garrity is well aware of the impact an unexpected check could have on a struggling Pennsylvania family.
Garrity herself had rebate checks to claim when she started the post and, to see how long it would take for the staff to process it, didn’t tell anyone in the office. She said it took too long, which led to her staff finding a glitch in the newly upgraded system that they then addressed.
Checks with her name on them
Returning unclaimed property is a common power for state treasurers, and a popular one, which is part of why the office can be a springboard into higher office — as it was for former Sen. Bob Casey.
Garrity will be term-limited in January 2029, and the gubernatorial election will take place in November 2026, midway through this second term. She has not said whether she would run for governor — or any other elected position — but also hasn’t ruled it out.
She said she’s currently focused on “being the best treasurer that I can be for the people of Pennsylvania.”
“Serving in the Army was the honor of my lifetime, but being the treasurer for the state of Pennsylvania, that’s a pretty close second,” she added. “So we’ve been on a roll. I want to continue, just to keep doing good things for Pennsylvanians, and then, you know, we’ll see.”
Garrity just broke a record for the most votes received by a statewide candidate, surpassing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2020 attorney general win.
Because of a recent law change that Garrity championed in her first term, the state now can issue checks for up to $500 for unclaimed property without a person first having to file a claim. The checks, like all Treasury checks, will have Garrity’s name on them. And that can’t hurt her popularity.
Garrity credits her record-breaking votes to the continuity of keeping staff from the prior treasurer (Democrat Joe Torsella), her willingness to work across the aisle, and outreach efforts at community events, manufacturing sites, and universities throughout the state.
Garrity, an ally of President Donald Trump who repeats his “drill, baby, drill” rhetoric with a smile, said she was criticized for retaining staff members when she began her post in 2021.
“I said, ‘I ran 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’d be working with a lot of bureaucrats. They are not. They are dedicated public servants that just want to help Pennsylvanians.”
One staffer described Garrity, who maintains a residence in Bradford on the northern border of the state, as having “boundless energy.”
And while she is tight-lipped about her political future, she has taken stances on foreign policy through her investment choices for Pennsylvania. She divested $2.8 million in Russian-held companies in 2022 following that country’s invasion of Ukraine, purchased an additional $20 million of Israel bonds following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, and divested most of the state’s Chinese-associated securities over geopolitical and human-rights concerns.
“I’m like, ‘Don’t you want to help your constituents?’”
Garrity’s new ability as treasurer to distribute checks to constituents without a claim is the result of a bill she advocated for during her first term. The bill became law with unanimous support in July, but it took effect only last week.
“I always want things to happen more quickly than they do in Harrisburg,” Garrity said. With a sweeping wave toward the staff in her spacious — and well-appointed— office, she said, “These guys will know.”
Politics played a role in the negotiations. Democratic state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, who represents Erie and is chair of the House Policy Committee, was poised to challenge Garrity in the general election — though he ended up losing in his party’s primary — and Democrats likely didn’t want a Republican candidate sending checks to voters in an election year. Garrity said beginning the program in a new calendar year made sense, but she wasn’t happy about the wait.
A similar program existed in 14 other states, Garrity said, with varying monetary limits. Garrity wanted to be able to send up to $5,000, but after legislators proposed the limit be lowered to $100, they settled on $500.
“I was so irritated,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Don’t you want to help your constituents?’”
She plans to ask the legislature to raise the limit each year.
An initial batch of 10,000 letters will go out to Pennsylvanians to confirm their addresses later this month, with checks going out 30 to 45 days afterward. Garrity said her office plans to send more letters quarterly with a total of about 70,000 this year.
More work to do with her ‘Republican friends’
Garrity said the only effort she pushed that she couldn’t get done in her first term was her Keystone Saves program, a private-public partnership that would create a retirement-savings program for Pennsylvanians who don’t have access to one through their jobs.
She said that 44% of the state’s private-sector employees don’t work for a company that offers a retirement plan and that social services for unprepared retirees are costing the state.
The National Federation of Independent Business opposes the proposal, but Garrity says it’s appealing to small businesses who don’t have the bandwidth to create their own program.
“I tried very hard to get that through,” she said. “We weren’t successful. But we’re thinking about, you know, looking at some different ways that will give it more appeal to my Republican friends, and that would be basically maybe removing a mandate. I think that’s the rub.”
Again, she mentioned her impatience.
“Sometimes things take a little bit longer,” she said. “… My folks will tell you, it just makes me double down and push harder in the next session.”