WEBVTT
00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:09.339
And welcome to another episode of the Back in
00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:11.619
Session podcast with your host, Ryan Stevens
00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:16.199
and Ryan DeMara. What's going on, Ryan? Heading
00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.699
into a holiday weekend. It's exciting. Yeah,
00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.239
pretty exciting. You have any big plans? Go to
00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:24.480
the beach. Nice. Beautiful weather, though. This
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.559
weather is perfect. It's a little chilly for
00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.640
the beach for me, but it's like, but it might
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.899
be perfect, actually. Like, I don't do well with
00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:34.320
the heat. Yeah. Yeah no i get that and you know
00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.299
my house is already fully in fully in fall mode
00:00:37.299 --> 00:00:40.219
i'm sure you guys are probably in fall mode after
00:00:40.219 --> 00:00:42.759
the fourth of july yeah i feel like as soon as
00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:45.140
we got back from ncsl and our little uh we took
00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:48.600
a little family vacation after ncsl uh we got
00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.460
back home and amanda was like fully invested
00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:54.280
in fall um we've been drinking dunkin pumpkin
00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:57.509
coffee for two weeks so before Starbucks came
00:00:57.509 --> 00:01:00.289
out with the PSL before Wawa came out with their
00:01:00.289 --> 00:01:02.289
pumpkin coffee. We've been we've been drinking
00:01:02.289 --> 00:01:07.510
Which one's your favorite one? Hmm, you know,
00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:11.310
that's a good question I Feel like I got to go
00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.909
with Wawa Wawa everything coffee was my favorite
00:01:14.909 --> 00:01:17.709
Duncan's good, but I usually only drink it like
00:01:17.709 --> 00:01:20.790
early in the season like Because because they're
00:01:20.790 --> 00:01:23.670
first August and September but then I mix in
00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:27.189
Wawa Amanda likes to get the pumpkin spice lattes,
00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:29.909
which I enjoy the pumpkin spice lattes. They're
00:01:29.909 --> 00:01:35.849
just getting kind of expensive for coffee. They're
00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.030
great. No offense to the folks at Starbucks.
00:01:39.349 --> 00:01:43.329
But yeah, we already decorated for fall, just
00:01:43.329 --> 00:01:45.750
remodeled our bathroom. So yeah, it's been a
00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:48.930
fun week. Did you end up being able to do that?
00:01:50.510 --> 00:01:53.280
I know you were struggling with that. Yeah, well
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.879
we found out not to not to Divert too much, but
00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:00.019
we found out that our master bathroom the vanity.
00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:03.099
It's a double vanity with two sinks My wife just
00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:05.819
wanted to replace the sink faucets, which in
00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:09.699
theory is a pretty simple fix, right? Shouldn't
00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:13.319
take too long. However, the entire system the
00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.759
entire vanity Everything the the sinks the faucets
00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:21.319
everything was from IKEA What I found out Was
00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:25.840
that the plumbing was also ikea? So in ikea does
00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.520
plumbing At least for their vanities because
00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:32.000
the vanities are like drawers that go in so if
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.639
you're if you have a sink right like there's
00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.699
all the plumbing underneath So to make the the
00:02:36.699 --> 00:02:40.879
drawers fully usable It's like a short joint
00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.840
like the drain from the faucet. Uh It comes down
00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:47.659
only like an inch or two like it's not Normally,
00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:49.520
like the one that we bought, it was like eight
00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:51.439
inches or something. So like we had to like cut
00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.939
it and we had to like get my buddies and I we
00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:59.080
we kind of figured out a way around it. It took
00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.219
a while. This is actually for the listeners.
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.360
This is actually the announcement of Ryan spin
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.240
off podcast. This was supposed to be easy. This
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.840
was supposed to be. Oh, man. I forgot. Yeah,
00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:11.419
I forgot to make that joke. It's every single
00:03:11.419 --> 00:03:15.259
time I undertake a project at home. It always
00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:18.030
ends up. Just not being easy not being easy.
00:03:18.110 --> 00:03:20.610
So yeah, that was my weekend. I guess two weeks
00:03:20.610 --> 00:03:23.229
ago, but yeah, we're all good now It's all decorated
00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.669
Amanda loves it. So she's happy. I'm happy and
00:03:25.669 --> 00:03:27.509
we just had her fantasy football draft. I'm pretty
00:03:27.509 --> 00:03:29.250
dead I'm pretty happy with my team. I don't know
00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:30.689
about you. I haven't looked at your team yet,
00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:33.289
but well Well, I had two drafts concurrently.
00:03:33.289 --> 00:03:35.270
I was trying to go back and forth between the
00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:37.830
two of them I don't know if I could tell you
00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:40.810
who's on which team and who I pay. It's just
00:03:40.810 --> 00:03:43.639
chaos. Yeah Yeah, it's always fun, but I'm sure
00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:45.520
I'm sure our listeners will be hearing more about
00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.419
our fantasy football matchups here as we as we
00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:51.599
start the football season. So that being said,
00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:54.099
let's let's let's shift gears a little bit to
00:03:54.099 --> 00:03:57.500
the reason why we're here today. We have we have
00:03:57.500 --> 00:03:59.759
a we have a special guest coming on for you today.
00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.039
We're excited to welcome Pennsylvania State Treasurer
00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.120
Stacey Garrity to the podcast. known Stacey for
00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.800
a long time. She is now a two -time elected state
00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.379
treasurer in Pennsylvania. It's our first statewide
00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:16.079
guest coming on the podcast. So we're excited
00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:19.300
to hear about Stacey's background and learn more
00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:22.779
about what she's up to at Treasury. So that being
00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:24.699
said, here's our conversation with Treasurer
00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:28.079
Garrity. All right, Treasurer Garrity, welcome
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:30.160
to the Back in Session podcast. How are you doing
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.819
today? I'm fantastic, and it's great to be with
00:04:32.819 --> 00:04:35.399
you. Yeah, we really appreciate you taking the
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.180
time to be with us. I know it's a busy time for
00:04:38.180 --> 00:04:40.959
you all across Pennsylvania, not just here in
00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.560
Harrisburg, but just getting right into it. Do
00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.620
you mind just walking us through your background
00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:47.839
and what helped guide you to your current role
00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:49.779
as state treasurer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania?
00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:52.699
Absolutely. So I was born and raised and still
00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:54.620
live in Bradford County, which is one of the
00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:59.269
most rural counties in the Commonwealth. I spent
00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:02.629
30 years in the Army Reserve, so three deployments
00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:04.689
all to the Middle East, so now I'm going to date
00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:08.290
myself because 1991 was Desert Storm and then
00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:11.769
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring
00:05:11.769 --> 00:05:15.029
Freedom. I hit my mandatory retirement date in
00:05:15.029 --> 00:05:18.970
2016 or I would have never considered even running
00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:21.449
for office because serving was and is the honor
00:05:21.449 --> 00:05:24.189
of my lifetime. At the same time, I spent more
00:05:24.189 --> 00:05:26.670
than three decades in the private sector, so
00:05:26.670 --> 00:05:29.600
I worked at the largest tungsten smelter in the
00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:33.060
Western world global tungsten and powders and
00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:35.420
worked my way up to become one of two female
00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:40.379
vice presidents and so after I hit my mandatory
00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:43.180
retirement date it was great for a couple of
00:05:43.180 --> 00:05:47.639
years because I was never home any evenings weekends
00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:50.220
and in fact this is kind of a funny story but
00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:53.709
my second weekend home In June of 2016, my husband
00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:55.050
looked at me and said, don't you have somewhere
00:05:55.050 --> 00:05:57.310
you have to be? And I said, no, isn't that great?
00:05:57.430 --> 00:05:59.910
So his golf handicap suffered a little bit. But
00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:02.389
now, of course, it's the best it's ever been.
00:06:05.769 --> 00:06:09.129
And so I felt the need to serve again. But you
00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:11.709
all know there's so many different ways you can
00:06:11.709 --> 00:06:14.389
serve. But I had approached my state rep and
00:06:14.389 --> 00:06:16.490
said, you know, I think I might be interested
00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:19.170
in politics one day. And this was Tina Pickett,
00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:20.850
Representative Pickett. And she said, you've
00:06:20.850 --> 00:06:23.649
got to be kidding me with your background. And
00:06:23.649 --> 00:06:26.230
she said, you know what? I'm going to call you
00:06:26.230 --> 00:06:28.850
back in five minutes. And she called a political
00:06:28.850 --> 00:06:30.870
consultant. And we were kind of off to the races.
00:06:31.470 --> 00:06:35.600
So I was asked to run for state treasurer. The
00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.399
first thing I said was no. Are you guys crazy?
00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:41.360
You know I'm from Bradford County. I've never
00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.160
run for anything before and so it took four months
00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:48.740
and you know I put it on our church prayer chain
00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:53.040
just you know For the prayer that the doors would
00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:56.779
open if I should run, you know, and so things
00:06:56.779 --> 00:07:00.339
worked out I approached my CEO who was Austrian
00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:04.139
and said, you know, I I'd like a little flexibility
00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:06.040
I want to run for this office, but there's a
00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:10.180
99 % chance that I lose and This was Herman Valser
00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.480
and he said Oh Stacey Whatever you need, but
00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:15.279
I think you'll win and I said, oh no. No, you
00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.120
don't understand United States politics. So so
00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:22.560
here we are That's awesome. And Bradford County
00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.500
is a beautiful county. I spent a lot of time
00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:26.720
up there. I'm from the southern end of Northeastern
00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:28.899
PA in Monroe County, but I spent a lot of time
00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:31.680
up there. So beautiful country. It is beautiful.
00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:34.420
Can you talk a little bit about how your business
00:07:34.420 --> 00:07:36.220
career and experience in the private sector,
00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:38.740
obviously a unique background, help prepare you
00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:42.079
for your current role as state treasurer? Absolutely.
00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:46.259
So for about nine years, I was in a different
00:07:46.259 --> 00:07:49.839
country. every single month basically negotiating
00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:55.180
business deals and You know when you work Even
00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:57.959
though we I worked for one of the largest employers
00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.839
in Bradford County But we had third -generation
00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:03.540
employees fourth -generation employees and you
00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:06.259
know, so I know what it means to make a payroll
00:08:06.259 --> 00:08:10.459
I know what it means when you have you know a
00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:12.920
spouse, a child, like they're counting on your
00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:17.120
company to do well. And so I would say, you know,
00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:20.480
just, you know, just being from the private sector
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.839
where you have to hit a budget, you have to hit
00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:25.399
your revenue. Well, you know, when I came into
00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:27.639
Treasury, I basically ran it like a business.
00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.319
And, you know, that's that's what I keep in mind.
00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:34.440
What's your just to interject, what's your favorite
00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:38.139
country you've been to? Oh, my gosh. You know,
00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:42.639
I loved Austria. I've been to Japan 20 times.
00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.399
I've been to China, Russia, Israel a couple times.
00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:50.580
I've been to India. I mean, you name it. That's
00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:52.740
awesome. Austria is beautiful. Salzburg is like,
00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.720
I think, my favorite town that I've ever been
00:08:55.720 --> 00:09:00.980
to. Australia was beautiful. That was fun. It
00:09:00.980 --> 00:09:02.740
was nice. I mean, most of the time I didn't get
00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:04.580
to do a lot of sightseeing because I was really
00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:08.259
there on business. So really intense negotiations.
00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:13.399
But yeah, it was great. And now people, if I
00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.419
ever show up to an airport, it's so funny because
00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:18.279
the folks at the airport will be like, well,
00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:19.899
we haven't seen you forever. Where are you traveling?
00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:24.019
And I say, just to all 67 counties. Multiple
00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:27.720
times, right? Yes, five times in most counties
00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:31.019
more than once. Just this year alone, I've already
00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:34.440
been to Philadelphia six times. That's incredible
00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:36.840
because it's not a small state. We are not a
00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:40.240
small Commonwealth. So you served 30 years in
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.019
the U .S. Army Reserve, ultimately retiring as
00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.580
a colonel. What initially drew you to military
00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:47.779
service and how do you think it influences your
00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:52.009
leadership style today? So funny story, so I
00:09:52.009 --> 00:09:54.230
was attending Bloomsburg University So I came
00:09:54.230 --> 00:09:56.110
home one weekend, which I thought was just a
00:09:56.110 --> 00:09:59.149
normal weekend So I walk into the house and my
00:09:59.149 --> 00:10:02.889
dad is in the living room with a recruiter and
00:10:02.889 --> 00:10:06.350
so I always joke that my dad kind of You know
00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:10.409
twisted my arm a little bit So I joined ROTC
00:10:11.319 --> 00:10:14.220
And this is funny because I joined in between
00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:15.980
my sophomore and my junior years. I had to go
00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.259
to basic training. Well, I went to basic training
00:10:18.259 --> 00:10:22.159
very unprepared. And so, you know, they don't
00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.179
let you call home for a few weeks. So when I
00:10:24.179 --> 00:10:27.279
finally got to call home, you know, I was I was
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.580
probably a little teary eyed and I'm on the phone
00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:32.159
with my parents and I'm telling my mom how, you
00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.500
know, how terrible everybody is. And, you know,
00:10:34.500 --> 00:10:36.159
they're screaming in your face and you're, you
00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.559
know, you're doing. push -ups like 24 hours a
00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:40.580
day. And she was like, oh, that's ridiculous.
00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:42.519
You should come home. My dad grabs the phone
00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.440
and said, you're not coming home. Winners never
00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:47.980
quit. Quitters never win. And you can do this.
00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:51.879
And thank God that I stayed. And I thought, OK,
00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:55.000
I'll do six years. I'll be done. And then I went
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:58.539
desert storm. And I could just never bring myself
00:10:58.539 --> 00:11:01.399
to get out. And like I said, had I not hit that
00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:03.419
mandatory retirement date, I'd still be serving.
00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:07.539
Yeah, I know that. That's great. And then just
00:11:07.539 --> 00:11:10.659
moving ahead in time, you wrapped up your first
00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:13.960
term as state treasurer last year. Can you just
00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:15.379
talk about some of the work you were able to
00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:17.240
accomplish in your first four years in office?
00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:20.960
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So it was a fantastic first
00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:27.639
term. And so when I won and I wasn't supposed
00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.700
to win because I be a very popular incumbent.
00:11:32.950 --> 00:11:35.210
You know, it was amazing and so I got it I get
00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:37.070
a call during the transition saying, you know
00:11:37.070 --> 00:11:38.789
Send a list of everybody you're bringing with
00:11:38.789 --> 00:11:43.090
you and I said, well that would be me and So
00:11:43.090 --> 00:11:46.289
apparently traditionally when row offices changed
00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:49.409
parties They fire everybody on the other side
00:11:49.409 --> 00:11:51.970
of the aisle. So I came in and I'm like, oh my
00:11:51.970 --> 00:11:56.629
gosh, this is 170 billion dollars So I decided
00:11:56.629 --> 00:11:58.990
to keep everybody. Now, comms changed and policy
00:11:58.990 --> 00:12:01.889
changed. I kept everybody else. So I get some
00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:07.669
phone calls from some folks in the General Assembly
00:12:07.669 --> 00:12:09.870
saying, Stacey, we know you're new to politics,
00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:13.009
but you really have to get rid of the other side.
00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:15.429
And I said, well, you know, I ran a battalion
00:12:15.429 --> 00:12:18.110
in a war zone. I think I can pick out my staff.
00:12:18.730 --> 00:12:20.950
If I need any advice, I'll call you. So that
00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:23.710
was the last I heard of anybody. But I think
00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:26.250
because I kept that staff. And you know, half
00:12:26.250 --> 00:12:28.850
our days, half our hours, I could care less as
00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:31.570
long as, you know, they're serving people in
00:12:31.570 --> 00:12:34.389
Pennsylvania. And as long as we're working to
00:12:34.389 --> 00:12:36.110
make Pennsylvania a better place to work, live
00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:38.809
and raise a family, I could care less. And I
00:12:38.809 --> 00:12:42.309
think that's why we had such a fantastic first
00:12:42.309 --> 00:12:44.730
term. So I'll give you a few examples. We've
00:12:44.730 --> 00:12:47.049
returned over a billion dollars in unclaimed
00:12:47.049 --> 00:12:49.779
property to. people in the Commonwealth. So we
00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:54.159
broke the record in fiscal year 22 -23 at $274
00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.200
million. And then the fiscal year that just wrapped
00:12:56.200 --> 00:13:00.600
up June 30th, we returned $289 .5 million. And
00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:04.759
so that's fantastic because this is money that
00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:07.740
most people don't even know they had. And with
00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:11.259
inflation still a little bit high, grocery prices
00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:12.960
still a little bit high, getting a few hundred
00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.480
dollars back to folks can really help. families
00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.340
that might be struggling. So we have two auctions
00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:22.200
a year for unclaimed property, so broke that
00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.580
record in the fall of 24, exceeding $600 ,000.
00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:30.080
Before that, the last record was like $330 ,000.
00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:33.659
I've also returned a record number of military
00:13:33.659 --> 00:13:37.919
decorations, over 517. That includes 13 purple
00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.919
hearts, three bronze stars, and a gold star medal.
00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.419
fees for the PA 529 college and career savings
00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:49.000
plan to the tune of over 22 million dollars.
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.279
Our PA able plan that is our plan for people,
00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:56.120
Pennsylvanians with disabilities. We've tripled
00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:58.700
the assets under management and doubled the accounts
00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:01.500
so right now there's 170 million dollars with
00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:06.490
over 11 ,000 accounts and Gosh, we expanded our
00:14:06.490 --> 00:14:09.850
outreach team. When I came to Treasury, they
00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:11.529
really didn't have much outreach, and it was
00:14:11.529 --> 00:14:13.309
all centered out of Harrisburg. So now we have
00:14:13.309 --> 00:14:16.049
people in all four corners of the Commonwealth,
00:14:16.350 --> 00:14:22.110
a couple in Central, and they did 1 ,300 outreach
00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:24.370
events last year. And I think that's another
00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:26.870
reason that we've been able to break a lot of
00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:29.509
records. So it really was just a fantastic year,
00:14:29.610 --> 00:14:31.629
and I'm really blessed to have a wonderful staff.
00:14:32.180 --> 00:14:35.100
And you mentioned unclaimed property. I feel
00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:36.980
like for years, I didn't really fully understand
00:14:36.980 --> 00:14:39.120
what unclaimed property was. Can you talk about
00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.240
what that is exactly and why treasury is the
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.899
one that holds that? Exactly. So unclaimed property
00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:50.100
can be so many things. It can be a dormant bank
00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.759
account or savings account. It can be an uncashed
00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.519
check, a rebate, an insurance refund, an old
00:14:56.519 --> 00:15:02.139
stock. or bond, and so much more. So financial
00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.860
institutions are required to send this unclaimed
00:15:04.860 --> 00:15:08.100
property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.
00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:11.830
Okay, and so then you know we'll publish things
00:15:11.830 --> 00:15:15.370
in the paper and You know we'll look for the
00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:17.610
owners and try and get it returned But we've
00:15:17.610 --> 00:15:20.970
really you know we've really turned it up a notch
00:15:20.970 --> 00:15:23.690
so when I came to Treasury they weren't doing
00:15:23.690 --> 00:15:26.509
tours tours of the vault and Fun fact we have
00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:29.659
the largest working vault in the entire nation,
00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:33.120
working is the operative word, built in 1939.
00:15:33.659 --> 00:15:37.419
At the time, it cost just under $600 ,000. If
00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:39.500
you adjusted that for inflation today, it would
00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:42.340
be over $13 million to build the vault. About
00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:45.720
400 tons of steel and the front door alone is
00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:50.299
60 tons. So we have $5 billion of unclaimed property.
00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:53.620
And I should also mention that we have tangible
00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:56.899
items. So tangible items are what we get from
00:15:56.899 --> 00:15:59.879
abandoned safe deposit. And so when we get these
00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:02.360
tangible items, we will look for that owner for
00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.940
at least three years. And then after three years,
00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:07.659
because even though we have a huge vault, sometimes
00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:10.799
we can run out of room, we'll do an auction in
00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.039
the spring and the fall. So I'll tell you about
00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.639
a couple of really cool things that we have in
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:17.620
the vault right now. So we have autographed guitars
00:16:17.620 --> 00:16:20.620
from Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Rolling Stones,
00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.799
and Guns N' Roses. We have this huge pendant,
00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.279
a big B, and that came from a police evidence
00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:28.000
locker, so I don't... think we'll find the owner.
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.559
But it has diamonds encrusted all over the front
00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:36.730
of it. So we have some really neat items. Yeah,
00:16:36.750 --> 00:16:39.370
we actually this was a topic on on our podcast
00:16:39.370 --> 00:16:42.149
a couple of episodes ago We had a state representative
00:16:42.149 --> 00:16:45.269
David Rowe come on and he talked about his tour
00:16:45.269 --> 00:16:48.169
of the vault and he mentioned something about
00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:50.970
There's like a chest of like silver gold and
00:16:50.970 --> 00:16:52.649
Damar and I have been wondering where we where
00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:55.549
we misplaced that Yeah, I lost my autographed
00:16:55.549 --> 00:16:57.529
guitars. Actually. I'm glad that we had this
00:16:57.529 --> 00:17:02.629
Yeah, we have a whole steamer trunk of silver
00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.400
And that came from a bank in the Philadelphia
00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:09.400
area. Wow. And we have not been able to find
00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:11.799
that owner. And we've been looking since actually
00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:13.740
the past five years, because I think that's been
00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:16.259
there since I came and haven't been able to find
00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:20.710
the owner. But. The other thing that we get in
00:17:20.710 --> 00:17:23.670
abandoned safe deposit boxes are military decorations.
00:17:24.250 --> 00:17:28.349
And so I say that is what I consider is priceless
00:17:28.349 --> 00:17:30.690
because as a veteran myself, returning those
00:17:30.690 --> 00:17:33.029
to the veteran that earned them or the family
00:17:33.029 --> 00:17:36.230
is really near and dear to my heart because every
00:17:36.230 --> 00:17:39.569
single medal is a piece of somebody's story and
00:17:39.569 --> 00:17:42.650
a symbol of what they sacrificed for all of us.
00:17:43.170 --> 00:17:46.700
And the last Purple Heart we gave back was on
00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:50.000
Purple Heart Day in August, and it was to the
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:52.779
son of a Vietnam veteran who had passed away.
00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:57.759
And he got his Purple Heart. when he was recovering
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.400
in the old Forge hospital. And he was medically
00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:05.279
discharged because of his injuries. So he died
00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:08.759
very young in a house fire. And so he had one
00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:11.920
son. And so we found the son, even though we
00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:13.819
didn't know who the owner of the safe deposit
00:18:13.819 --> 00:18:16.420
box was, his name was engraved on the back of
00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:19.039
the Purple Heart. And so we traced down the son.
00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:23.220
We had a great ceremony. And it was so emotional
00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:26.480
for Jim that he couldn't get through his speech
00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.039
without crying. So it was really great to return
00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.920
that medal. Yeah, that's fantastic. I've always
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:33.319
wondered, and this was actually something I was
00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.420
going to ask you later, but how does a military
00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:40.559
medal end up in treasury? How does that process
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.460
work exactly? So usually it's from abandoned
00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:48.039
safe deposit boxes. And so like I mentioned earlier,
00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.880
we've given back 517 since I took office So I've
00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:53.920
really put an emphasis on that but we still have
00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.640
about 500 left and these are items that we will
00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:02.779
keep forever. So We just got back civil war shoulder
00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:06.859
boards epithets epaulettes or however you pronounce
00:19:06.859 --> 00:19:12.980
that. We have World War I dog tags. We have a
00:19:12.980 --> 00:19:17.579
K -Bar from a Marine. We still have, I think,
00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:22.500
four Purple Hearts. And we still have a couple
00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:26.480
of Bronze Stars. Wow. We have World War II medals,
00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:30.920
you know, victory medal. So there's a lot of
00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.359
interesting things in the vault. Do you have
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:35.640
any advice for Pennsylvanians and how they can
00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:38.460
search for and claim their own unclaimed property?
00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.880
It is so easy because we upgraded the system.
00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:44.799
So you can do it right on your phone, even Ryan.
00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:47.920
All you have to do is go to pa treasury dot gov
00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:50.319
slash unclaimed property. A screen will pop up.
00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:53.160
You can pop in your name and you know, don't
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.140
just look for yourself. Look for your family,
00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.579
your friends, any organizations you're part of
00:19:57.579 --> 00:20:01.029
because one out of 10 Pennsylvanians. does have
00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:03.289
unclaimed property. The average claim is roughly
00:20:03.289 --> 00:20:08.190
around $1 ,000. And if it's a simple claim, we
00:20:08.190 --> 00:20:10.470
can fast track it. And if it's fast tracked,
00:20:10.769 --> 00:20:13.150
you'll get your money in less than two weeks.
00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:15.410
If it's a longer, more complicated claim, it
00:20:15.410 --> 00:20:18.289
could take three to four months. But still not
00:20:18.289 --> 00:20:20.650
too bad. I've benchmarked us to other states,
00:20:20.650 --> 00:20:25.329
and we're doing fantastic. And there's a new
00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:29.579
automatic process, right? Because previously
00:20:29.579 --> 00:20:31.599
you had to like go in and like you said search
00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:33.960
your name and everything But isn't there a way
00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.380
now through legislation? I think that was recently
00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:40.720
enacted that speeds up that process Yes for some
00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:43.660
items so Pennsylvania match started as out of
00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:46.579
Senate bill 24 and it passed both the Senate
00:20:46.579 --> 00:20:50.519
and the house Unanimously, how often does that
00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.259
happen? How great is that? So this is a program
00:20:53.259 --> 00:20:56.279
that actually removes red tape from government
00:20:56.490 --> 00:20:59.509
which i think is super cool so i absolutely love
00:20:59.509 --> 00:21:02.329
this program so for the first time ever treasury
00:21:02.329 --> 00:21:05.109
can proactively return unclaimed property up
00:21:05.109 --> 00:21:09.990
to 500 to a single owner and so that means no
00:21:09.990 --> 00:21:14.349
filling out forms um you know no need to go in
00:21:14.349 --> 00:21:16.970
and search so it's fantastic although i still
00:21:16.970 --> 00:21:18.930
tell people you should go in and search because
00:21:19.470 --> 00:21:22.990
If your address changed or if it's more than
00:21:22.990 --> 00:21:26.109
$500, then you still have to claim it the traditional
00:21:26.109 --> 00:21:31.309
way. So since Pennsylvania money match. Was implemented
00:21:31.309 --> 00:21:34.869
which it was just this year The first checks
00:21:34.869 --> 00:21:38.769
we sent out were in January and that was about
00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:41.609
1 .8 million dollars and then we sent a second
00:21:41.609 --> 00:21:44.589
tranche out which was Over 9 million and we're
00:21:44.589 --> 00:21:47.250
just getting ready to send out we sent out 80
00:21:47.250 --> 00:21:50.089
,000 good newsletters Basically letting people
00:21:50.089 --> 00:21:52.049
know. Hey, you've unclaimed property. You're
00:21:52.049 --> 00:21:53.589
going to be getting a check from the Treasury
00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:57.109
in about 30 to 40 days So watch it. This is a
00:21:57.109 --> 00:21:59.210
real program. It's real money. It's your money
00:21:59.210 --> 00:22:01.970
cash the check basically in a nicer way. And
00:22:01.970 --> 00:22:04.609
so we're going to send about $15 million of checks
00:22:04.609 --> 00:22:06.950
out in the next couple of weeks. And then at
00:22:06.950 --> 00:22:08.630
the end of the year, we'll do another time. So
00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:10.529
at the end of this year, we'll probably have
00:22:10.529 --> 00:22:13.930
given back over $40 million through Pennsylvania
00:22:13.930 --> 00:22:18.150
Money Match. Wow. That's amazing. That's great.
00:22:18.630 --> 00:22:20.509
Yeah. Maybe, Ryan, we should include the link
00:22:20.509 --> 00:22:23.109
for the unclean property search in the episode
00:22:23.109 --> 00:22:26.329
notes. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, switching
00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:27.910
gears a little bit, Treasurer, you mentioned
00:22:27.910 --> 00:22:31.410
earlier 529 college savings plans. For any of
00:22:31.410 --> 00:22:34.170
the parents listening, what makes a PA 529 a
00:22:34.170 --> 00:22:36.910
smart choice for saving for their child's education?
00:22:37.950 --> 00:22:41.450
So, this is a wonderful program. So, the PA 529
00:22:41.450 --> 00:22:43.730
college and career savings programs, it helps
00:22:43.730 --> 00:22:46.609
families save for education. And you know what?
00:22:46.630 --> 00:22:48.950
I like to tell people, it's not just for a four
00:22:48.950 --> 00:22:52.109
-year degree. It can be community college, technical
00:22:52.109 --> 00:22:55.950
schools. qualified apprenticeships, even K through
00:22:55.950 --> 00:22:59.309
12 expenses, including tuition at private or
00:22:59.309 --> 00:23:02.990
religious schools. And there are fantastic tax
00:23:02.990 --> 00:23:06.250
benefits for families. So there's tax -free investment
00:23:06.250 --> 00:23:09.250
growth. There's tax -free withdrawals for qualified
00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:12.549
expenses. And for Pennsylvania residents using
00:23:12.549 --> 00:23:16.890
the plan, the benefits are even greater. So contributions
00:23:16.890 --> 00:23:21.210
qualify for state income tax deduction. The assets
00:23:21.210 --> 00:23:24.480
don't impact Pennsylvania financial aid eligibility,
00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:27.000
which is fantastic. And you know what? The assets
00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.339
in a 529 are exempt from Pennsylvania inheritance
00:23:30.339 --> 00:23:32.839
tax. And that's really unique to Pennsylvania.
00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:38.059
So we have $8 .9 billion invested in PA 529 accounts.
00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:41.500
And our program is ranked gold. And there are
00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:44.339
only two gold programs that have been ranked
00:23:44.339 --> 00:23:46.660
gold two consecutive years in the entire nation.
00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:49.900
And I think one of the reasons is because we
00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:53.880
have consistently reduced fees every single year
00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:57.559
to the tune of over $22 million so far. So it's
00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.500
fantastic. It's a great plan. And it's been around
00:24:01.500 --> 00:24:03.619
for three decades. But when you think about it,
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:06.259
every dollar that's saved now is a dollar that
00:24:06.259 --> 00:24:09.519
doesn't have to be borrowed later, just really
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:12.059
helping the next generation have less education
00:24:12.059 --> 00:24:16.299
-related debt. So it's a great program. Yeah,
00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:17.880
and I know I've heard you talk about it before
00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:20.960
and my son was born last February and as soon
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.119
as he was born I was like I got to do that 529
00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:29.359
program like treasure of charity told me to That
00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:32.900
no Which is a good segue I think into what we
00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:35.180
were gonna ask about next is you know What exactly
00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:37.200
is Keystone scholars because that is on my to
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.990
-do list still? Good, so Keystone Scholars provides
00:24:40.990 --> 00:24:45.529
$100 starter deposit for every child born or
00:24:45.529 --> 00:24:48.549
adopted in Pennsylvania since January 1st, 2019.
00:24:48.549 --> 00:24:52.690
So it's a jump start on college savings and it's
00:24:52.690 --> 00:24:57.130
fantastic because we are the very first state
00:24:57.130 --> 00:25:01.049
to legislate a universal at birth opt out child
00:25:01.049 --> 00:25:04.170
development account program. And you know, Pennsylvania
00:25:04.170 --> 00:25:06.410
typically isn't first in anything, so we are
00:25:06.410 --> 00:25:10.980
really, really proud about that. So as of August,
00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:15.200
more than 89 ,000 families have registered their
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:17.299
Keystone Scholars accounts. That's fantastic.
00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.480
And so families have already saved through Keystone
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.220
Scholars, because they've linked their accounts
00:25:22.220 --> 00:25:27.359
to a PA529, over $157 million. So we know that
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.119
parents like this program. So, Ryan, make sure
00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:32.319
you go out and claim it. I was going to say,
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.279
sounds like I've got some homework to do after
00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:38.119
this. And the beautiful part about this is there
00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:41.400
are no taxpayer dollars used to fund this program.
00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:47.119
It's for surplus earnings in the 529. Wow. And
00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:50.940
just shifting gears a little bit here, you're
00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:53.460
Pennsylvania's fiscal watchdog as treasurer.
00:25:53.859 --> 00:25:55.660
What is your assessment of the state's current
00:25:55.660 --> 00:25:58.950
economic health? including just some key strengths,
00:25:58.950 --> 00:26:04.049
challenges that you foresee. Yes. So ever since
00:26:04.049 --> 00:26:05.809
I've been the state treasurer, we have run a
00:26:05.809 --> 00:26:09.150
deficit. And people didn't really talk about
00:26:09.150 --> 00:26:11.589
it because we were flush with a lot of federal
00:26:11.589 --> 00:26:15.930
money from COVID, right? So just this fiscal
00:26:15.930 --> 00:26:21.309
year that we ended June 30th, we spent $3 billion
00:26:21.309 --> 00:26:25.269
more than what we brought in. And that is just
00:26:25.269 --> 00:26:29.289
not sustainable. So if you look at the independent
00:26:29.289 --> 00:26:32.289
fiscal offices number, if you looked at what
00:26:32.289 --> 00:26:36.289
the governor submitted, we would be out of our
00:26:36.289 --> 00:26:38.730
surplus at the end of this fiscal year and then
00:26:38.730 --> 00:26:42.029
out of the rainy day fund next fiscal year. So
00:26:42.029 --> 00:26:44.430
we do have some challenges with the structural
00:26:44.430 --> 00:26:51.279
deficit. And the way I think we should address
00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:53.720
it is to unleash the natural gas that we have
00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:55.720
right under our feet. It would create billions
00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.680
of dollars in jobs, billions of dollars in economic
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.440
opportunity for our communities, and give us
00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.779
that little bit of financial breathing room that
00:27:04.779 --> 00:27:06.880
we need. So I know right now we're at a budget
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:09.740
impasse. It sounds like they're kind of getting
00:27:09.740 --> 00:27:13.559
close, which is great. But whatever the number
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:15.740
is, we know that it's going to be billions of
00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:18.299
dollars more than what we bring in. And that's
00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.539
problematic. Gotcha. Yeah, I know that makes
00:27:21.539 --> 00:27:25.160
sense. Well, no, this has been super, super great
00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.420
treasure of charity. We really appreciate you
00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:30.279
coming on to chat with us and hope our listeners
00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:32.619
got a chance to learn a little bit about what
00:27:32.619 --> 00:27:35.519
the treasurer does and your background. And hopefully
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:37.579
there are some other parents out there that now
00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:40.839
can go on and get some of those accounts and
00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:42.980
folks that start looking for unclaimed property.
00:27:43.180 --> 00:27:45.880
But we do always like to end on a fun question.
00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.819
So we like we hear that you enjoy drinking iced
00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:51.799
tea throughout the day. And I have to ask, do
00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:54.660
you have a particular, I see it there, do you
00:27:54.660 --> 00:27:58.339
have a particular like brand of iced tea that's
00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:00.359
a go -to for you? Because I know Pennsylvania
00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:03.160
is kind of like geographically divided based
00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:06.819
on like different I guess brands. Right, so it's
00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:09.799
not Wawa or Sheetz. I actually usually go through
00:28:09.799 --> 00:28:12.500
the McDonald's drive -thru and get an iced tea.
00:28:13.859 --> 00:28:17.099
It's not to plug McDonald's, but it's the cheapest.
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.579
That's fair. It's easily accessible anywhere.
00:28:21.779 --> 00:28:24.279
You can get it anywhere. Exactly. Exactly. Because
00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:28.420
you travel all 67 counties. I do. How many McDonald's
00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:31.480
have you been to? Now that's... Well, we were
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:32.920
trying to figure out how many sheets I've been
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:35.640
to. I think I've been to the majority of sheets
00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:39.680
throughout the Commonwealth. I believe it. Well,
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:41.259
this has been great, Treasure. Thanks so much.
00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:42.759
We appreciate it. Thank you, Treasure. Thanks,
00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:46.299
Ryan. And that concludes another episode of the
00:28:46.299 --> 00:28:48.720
Back in Session Podcast. Really enjoyed having
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:51.140
Treasurer Garrity come on, chat a little bit
00:28:51.140 --> 00:28:53.579
about her background and what the Treasurer does.
00:28:54.680 --> 00:28:56.279
It's always fascinating to hear about some of
00:28:56.279 --> 00:28:58.500
these programs that I feel like a lot of Pennsylvanians
00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:01.619
don't know about. So hopefully, those of you
00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:04.420
who are listening, now you have some of your
00:29:04.420 --> 00:29:07.900
own homework to do. Go check out Unclaimed Property.
00:29:08.619 --> 00:29:10.799
Yeah, and if you're a parent, your kid doesn't
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:14.779
have a 529 or a Keystone Scholars account. What
00:29:14.779 --> 00:29:17.180
are you waiting for? Ryan, I'm going to yes.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.200
Yeah, right. I'm going to check up on you next
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.059
week to make sure you did it. Yeah, you're going
00:29:21.059 --> 00:29:22.960
to have to. You're asking everybody else what
00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:24.779
they're waiting for. What are you waiting for?
00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:28.500
I'm waiting for college football tonight, tomorrow,
00:29:28.579 --> 00:29:31.859
Saturday, Sunday, five straight days of college
00:29:31.859 --> 00:29:34.539
football. So don't expect to hear from you is
00:29:34.539 --> 00:29:36.660
what you're telling me. Yeah. About anything
00:29:36.660 --> 00:29:39.599
productive, at least. Yeah. Peace out. Yeah,
00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:43.759
that's fine. I'm out now. I'm here. You need
00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:45.480
anything, right? And I'm always here. Oh, yeah.
00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:48.720
When you're not screening my phone calls. Yeah,
00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.660
I only do that 50 percent of the time. So probably
00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:57.960
less than most, actually. So I'll take it. Any
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:00.539
any any further news? I know we kind of broke
00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:04.400
it on the last the last podcast. So I don't think
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.819
any I don't think any superstar engagements.
00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:09.880
No more. No more. Not that I know of. That was
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:13.380
it for the week. That was it. Yeah. Well. I guess
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:16.480
your household was pretty happy about it. Oh,
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:19.440
very happy, yeah. I've heard about it for three
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:23.420
days. I actually was on a work call after we
00:30:23.420 --> 00:30:26.579
recorded our podcast. I was on a Zoom and my
00:30:26.579 --> 00:30:30.839
wife comes by and she's freaking out and she
00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:34.819
passes me a note. Like I'm like she passes you
00:30:34.819 --> 00:30:37.000
a note. She passed me a note and I ignored it
00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:39.420
because I'm like we're wrapping up the zoom that
00:30:39.420 --> 00:30:42.019
we were on and it was I forget what zoom it was
00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:44.579
if it was a client or a potential client. She
00:30:44.579 --> 00:30:47.940
knows you have a laptop, right? Yeah, she but
00:30:47.940 --> 00:30:50.000
it's but it's like it's an important meeting,
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:51.819
you know, so I'm like but it's wrapping up. So
00:30:51.819 --> 00:30:53.880
I'm like, I'm not going to like look distracted
00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:55.799
while we're like saying our goodbyes and everything.
00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:58.880
So I was saying so I ignored my wife. I said
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.039
goodbye. You know, thank you for your time hung
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:02.940
up. And she's like, you didn't read my note.
00:31:03.099 --> 00:31:05.759
And I was like, what note? Like this note? She's
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.960
like, yeah. So I open it up and it says Travis
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:10.640
and Taylor are engaged. And I was like, Amanda,
00:31:10.700 --> 00:31:13.299
I know this. You're like, Tamara broke this news
00:31:13.299 --> 00:31:16.440
an hour ago. I said, Tamara told me and I've
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.559
already texted you like five memes about it.
00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:22.140
So she just doesn't read your messages. Yeah,
00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:24.920
like Amanda. Yeah, clearly, clearly. You think
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:31.019
I ignore you? So, yeah, well, I have to. I'll
00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:32.420
have to talk to Amanda about that. We'll have
00:31:32.420 --> 00:31:34.460
to form a support group. Yeah, there you go.
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.500
There you go. So but until next time when we
00:31:37.500 --> 00:31:39.960
will be back in session.
00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:09.339
And welcome to another episode of the Back in
00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:11.619
Session podcast with your host, Ryan Stevens
00:00:11.619 --> 00:00:16.199
and Ryan DeMara. What's going on, Ryan? Heading
00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.699
into a holiday weekend. It's exciting. Yeah,
00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.239
pretty exciting. You have any big plans? Go to
00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:24.480
the beach. Nice. Beautiful weather, though. This
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.559
weather is perfect. It's a little chilly for
00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.640
the beach for me, but it's like, but it might
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:30.899
be perfect, actually. Like, I don't do well with
00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:34.320
the heat. Yeah. Yeah no i get that and you know
00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.299
my house is already fully in fully in fall mode
00:00:37.299 --> 00:00:40.219
i'm sure you guys are probably in fall mode after
00:00:40.219 --> 00:00:42.759
the fourth of july yeah i feel like as soon as
00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:45.140
we got back from ncsl and our little uh we took
00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:48.600
a little family vacation after ncsl uh we got
00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.460
back home and amanda was like fully invested
00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:54.280
in fall um we've been drinking dunkin pumpkin
00:00:54.280 --> 00:00:57.509
coffee for two weeks so before Starbucks came
00:00:57.509 --> 00:01:00.289
out with the PSL before Wawa came out with their
00:01:00.289 --> 00:01:02.289
pumpkin coffee. We've been we've been drinking
00:01:02.289 --> 00:01:07.510
Which one's your favorite one? Hmm, you know,
00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:11.310
that's a good question I Feel like I got to go
00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.909
with Wawa Wawa everything coffee was my favorite
00:01:14.909 --> 00:01:17.709
Duncan's good, but I usually only drink it like
00:01:17.709 --> 00:01:20.790
early in the season like Because because they're
00:01:20.790 --> 00:01:23.670
first August and September but then I mix in
00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:27.189
Wawa Amanda likes to get the pumpkin spice lattes,
00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:29.909
which I enjoy the pumpkin spice lattes. They're
00:01:29.909 --> 00:01:35.849
just getting kind of expensive for coffee. They're
00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.030
great. No offense to the folks at Starbucks.
00:01:39.349 --> 00:01:43.329
But yeah, we already decorated for fall, just
00:01:43.329 --> 00:01:45.750
remodeled our bathroom. So yeah, it's been a
00:01:45.750 --> 00:01:48.930
fun week. Did you end up being able to do that?
00:01:50.510 --> 00:01:53.280
I know you were struggling with that. Yeah, well
00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.879
we found out not to not to Divert too much, but
00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:00.019
we found out that our master bathroom the vanity.
00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:03.099
It's a double vanity with two sinks My wife just
00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:05.819
wanted to replace the sink faucets, which in
00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:09.699
theory is a pretty simple fix, right? Shouldn't
00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:13.319
take too long. However, the entire system the
00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.759
entire vanity Everything the the sinks the faucets
00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:21.319
everything was from IKEA What I found out Was
00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:25.840
that the plumbing was also ikea? So in ikea does
00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:28.520
plumbing At least for their vanities because
00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:32.000
the vanities are like drawers that go in so if
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.639
you're if you have a sink right like there's
00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.699
all the plumbing underneath So to make the the
00:02:36.699 --> 00:02:40.879
drawers fully usable It's like a short joint
00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:44.840
like the drain from the faucet. Uh It comes down
00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:47.659
only like an inch or two like it's not Normally,
00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:49.520
like the one that we bought, it was like eight
00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:51.439
inches or something. So like we had to like cut
00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.939
it and we had to like get my buddies and I we
00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:59.080
we kind of figured out a way around it. It took
00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.219
a while. This is actually for the listeners.
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.360
This is actually the announcement of Ryan spin
00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.240
off podcast. This was supposed to be easy. This
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.840
was supposed to be. Oh, man. I forgot. Yeah,
00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:11.419
I forgot to make that joke. It's every single
00:03:11.419 --> 00:03:15.259
time I undertake a project at home. It always
00:03:15.259 --> 00:03:18.030
ends up. Just not being easy not being easy.
00:03:18.110 --> 00:03:20.610
So yeah, that was my weekend. I guess two weeks
00:03:20.610 --> 00:03:23.229
ago, but yeah, we're all good now It's all decorated
00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.669
Amanda loves it. So she's happy. I'm happy and
00:03:25.669 --> 00:03:27.509
we just had her fantasy football draft. I'm pretty
00:03:27.509 --> 00:03:29.250
dead I'm pretty happy with my team. I don't know
00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:30.689
about you. I haven't looked at your team yet,
00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:33.289
but well Well, I had two drafts concurrently.
00:03:33.289 --> 00:03:35.270
I was trying to go back and forth between the
00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:37.830
two of them I don't know if I could tell you
00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:40.810
who's on which team and who I pay. It's just
00:03:40.810 --> 00:03:43.639
chaos. Yeah Yeah, it's always fun, but I'm sure
00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:45.520
I'm sure our listeners will be hearing more about
00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:49.419
our fantasy football matchups here as we as we
00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:51.599
start the football season. So that being said,
00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:54.099
let's let's let's shift gears a little bit to
00:03:54.099 --> 00:03:57.500
the reason why we're here today. We have we have
00:03:57.500 --> 00:03:59.759
a we have a special guest coming on for you today.
00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.039
We're excited to welcome Pennsylvania State Treasurer
00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.120
Stacey Garrity to the podcast. known Stacey for
00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:10.800
a long time. She is now a two -time elected state
00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.379
treasurer in Pennsylvania. It's our first statewide
00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:16.079
guest coming on the podcast. So we're excited
00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:19.300
to hear about Stacey's background and learn more
00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:22.779
about what she's up to at Treasury. So that being
00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:24.699
said, here's our conversation with Treasurer
00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:28.079
Garrity. All right, Treasurer Garrity, welcome
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:30.160
to the Back in Session podcast. How are you doing
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.819
today? I'm fantastic, and it's great to be with
00:04:32.819 --> 00:04:35.399
you. Yeah, we really appreciate you taking the
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.180
time to be with us. I know it's a busy time for
00:04:38.180 --> 00:04:40.959
you all across Pennsylvania, not just here in
00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.560
Harrisburg, but just getting right into it. Do
00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.620
you mind just walking us through your background
00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:47.839
and what helped guide you to your current role
00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:49.779
as state treasurer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania?
00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:52.699
Absolutely. So I was born and raised and still
00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:54.620
live in Bradford County, which is one of the
00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:59.269
most rural counties in the Commonwealth. I spent
00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:02.629
30 years in the Army Reserve, so three deployments
00:05:02.629 --> 00:05:04.689
all to the Middle East, so now I'm going to date
00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:08.290
myself because 1991 was Desert Storm and then
00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:11.769
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring
00:05:11.769 --> 00:05:15.029
Freedom. I hit my mandatory retirement date in
00:05:15.029 --> 00:05:18.970
2016 or I would have never considered even running
00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:21.449
for office because serving was and is the honor
00:05:21.449 --> 00:05:24.189
of my lifetime. At the same time, I spent more
00:05:24.189 --> 00:05:26.670
than three decades in the private sector, so
00:05:26.670 --> 00:05:29.600
I worked at the largest tungsten smelter in the
00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:33.060
Western world global tungsten and powders and
00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:35.420
worked my way up to become one of two female
00:05:35.420 --> 00:05:40.379
vice presidents and so after I hit my mandatory
00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:43.180
retirement date it was great for a couple of
00:05:43.180 --> 00:05:47.639
years because I was never home any evenings weekends
00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:50.220
and in fact this is kind of a funny story but
00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:53.709
my second weekend home In June of 2016, my husband
00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:55.050
looked at me and said, don't you have somewhere
00:05:55.050 --> 00:05:57.310
you have to be? And I said, no, isn't that great?
00:05:57.430 --> 00:05:59.910
So his golf handicap suffered a little bit. But
00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:02.389
now, of course, it's the best it's ever been.
00:06:05.769 --> 00:06:09.129
And so I felt the need to serve again. But you
00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:11.709
all know there's so many different ways you can
00:06:11.709 --> 00:06:14.389
serve. But I had approached my state rep and
00:06:14.389 --> 00:06:16.490
said, you know, I think I might be interested
00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:19.170
in politics one day. And this was Tina Pickett,
00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:20.850
Representative Pickett. And she said, you've
00:06:20.850 --> 00:06:23.649
got to be kidding me with your background. And
00:06:23.649 --> 00:06:26.230
she said, you know what? I'm going to call you
00:06:26.230 --> 00:06:28.850
back in five minutes. And she called a political
00:06:28.850 --> 00:06:30.870
consultant. And we were kind of off to the races.
00:06:31.470 --> 00:06:35.600
So I was asked to run for state treasurer. The
00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.399
first thing I said was no. Are you guys crazy?
00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:41.360
You know I'm from Bradford County. I've never
00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:45.160
run for anything before and so it took four months
00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:48.740
and you know I put it on our church prayer chain
00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:53.040
just you know For the prayer that the doors would
00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:56.779
open if I should run, you know, and so things
00:06:56.779 --> 00:07:00.339
worked out I approached my CEO who was Austrian
00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:04.139
and said, you know, I I'd like a little flexibility
00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:06.040
I want to run for this office, but there's a
00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:10.180
99 % chance that I lose and This was Herman Valser
00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.480
and he said Oh Stacey Whatever you need, but
00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:15.279
I think you'll win and I said, oh no. No, you
00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.120
don't understand United States politics. So so
00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:22.560
here we are That's awesome. And Bradford County
00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.500
is a beautiful county. I spent a lot of time
00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:26.720
up there. I'm from the southern end of Northeastern
00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:28.899
PA in Monroe County, but I spent a lot of time
00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:31.680
up there. So beautiful country. It is beautiful.
00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:34.420
Can you talk a little bit about how your business
00:07:34.420 --> 00:07:36.220
career and experience in the private sector,
00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:38.740
obviously a unique background, help prepare you
00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:42.079
for your current role as state treasurer? Absolutely.
00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:46.259
So for about nine years, I was in a different
00:07:46.259 --> 00:07:49.839
country. every single month basically negotiating
00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:55.180
business deals and You know when you work Even
00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:57.959
though we I worked for one of the largest employers
00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:00.839
in Bradford County But we had third -generation
00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:03.540
employees fourth -generation employees and you
00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:06.259
know, so I know what it means to make a payroll
00:08:06.259 --> 00:08:10.459
I know what it means when you have you know a
00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:12.920
spouse, a child, like they're counting on your
00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:17.120
company to do well. And so I would say, you know,
00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:20.480
just, you know, just being from the private sector
00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.839
where you have to hit a budget, you have to hit
00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:25.399
your revenue. Well, you know, when I came into
00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:27.639
Treasury, I basically ran it like a business.
00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.319
And, you know, that's that's what I keep in mind.
00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:34.440
What's your just to interject, what's your favorite
00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:38.139
country you've been to? Oh, my gosh. You know,
00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:42.639
I loved Austria. I've been to Japan 20 times.
00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.399
I've been to China, Russia, Israel a couple times.
00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:50.580
I've been to India. I mean, you name it. That's
00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:52.740
awesome. Austria is beautiful. Salzburg is like,
00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.720
I think, my favorite town that I've ever been
00:08:55.720 --> 00:09:00.980
to. Australia was beautiful. That was fun. It
00:09:00.980 --> 00:09:02.740
was nice. I mean, most of the time I didn't get
00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:04.580
to do a lot of sightseeing because I was really
00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:08.259
there on business. So really intense negotiations.
00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:13.399
But yeah, it was great. And now people, if I
00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.419
ever show up to an airport, it's so funny because
00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:18.279
the folks at the airport will be like, well,
00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:19.899
we haven't seen you forever. Where are you traveling?
00:09:19.980 --> 00:09:24.019
And I say, just to all 67 counties. Multiple
00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:27.720
times, right? Yes, five times in most counties
00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:31.019
more than once. Just this year alone, I've already
00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:34.440
been to Philadelphia six times. That's incredible
00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:36.840
because it's not a small state. We are not a
00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:40.240
small Commonwealth. So you served 30 years in
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.019
the U .S. Army Reserve, ultimately retiring as
00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:45.580
a colonel. What initially drew you to military
00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:47.779
service and how do you think it influences your
00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:52.009
leadership style today? So funny story, so I
00:09:52.009 --> 00:09:54.230
was attending Bloomsburg University So I came
00:09:54.230 --> 00:09:56.110
home one weekend, which I thought was just a
00:09:56.110 --> 00:09:59.149
normal weekend So I walk into the house and my
00:09:59.149 --> 00:10:02.889
dad is in the living room with a recruiter and
00:10:02.889 --> 00:10:06.350
so I always joke that my dad kind of You know
00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:10.409
twisted my arm a little bit So I joined ROTC
00:10:11.319 --> 00:10:14.220
And this is funny because I joined in between
00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:15.980
my sophomore and my junior years. I had to go
00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.259
to basic training. Well, I went to basic training
00:10:18.259 --> 00:10:22.159
very unprepared. And so, you know, they don't
00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.179
let you call home for a few weeks. So when I
00:10:24.179 --> 00:10:27.279
finally got to call home, you know, I was I was
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.580
probably a little teary eyed and I'm on the phone
00:10:29.580 --> 00:10:32.159
with my parents and I'm telling my mom how, you
00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.500
know, how terrible everybody is. And, you know,
00:10:34.500 --> 00:10:36.159
they're screaming in your face and you're, you
00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.559
know, you're doing. push -ups like 24 hours a
00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:40.580
day. And she was like, oh, that's ridiculous.
00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:42.519
You should come home. My dad grabs the phone
00:10:42.519 --> 00:10:45.440
and said, you're not coming home. Winners never
00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:47.980
quit. Quitters never win. And you can do this.
00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:51.879
And thank God that I stayed. And I thought, OK,
00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:55.000
I'll do six years. I'll be done. And then I went
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:58.539
desert storm. And I could just never bring myself
00:10:58.539 --> 00:11:01.399
to get out. And like I said, had I not hit that
00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:03.419
mandatory retirement date, I'd still be serving.
00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:07.539
Yeah, I know that. That's great. And then just
00:11:07.539 --> 00:11:10.659
moving ahead in time, you wrapped up your first
00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:13.960
term as state treasurer last year. Can you just
00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:15.379
talk about some of the work you were able to
00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:17.240
accomplish in your first four years in office?
00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:20.960
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So it was a fantastic first
00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:27.639
term. And so when I won and I wasn't supposed
00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:30.700
to win because I be a very popular incumbent.
00:11:32.950 --> 00:11:35.210
You know, it was amazing and so I got it I get
00:11:35.210 --> 00:11:37.070
a call during the transition saying, you know
00:11:37.070 --> 00:11:38.789
Send a list of everybody you're bringing with
00:11:38.789 --> 00:11:43.090
you and I said, well that would be me and So
00:11:43.090 --> 00:11:46.289
apparently traditionally when row offices changed
00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:49.409
parties They fire everybody on the other side
00:11:49.409 --> 00:11:51.970
of the aisle. So I came in and I'm like, oh my
00:11:51.970 --> 00:11:56.629
gosh, this is 170 billion dollars So I decided
00:11:56.629 --> 00:11:58.990
to keep everybody. Now, comms changed and policy
00:11:58.990 --> 00:12:01.889
changed. I kept everybody else. So I get some
00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:07.669
phone calls from some folks in the General Assembly
00:12:07.669 --> 00:12:09.870
saying, Stacey, we know you're new to politics,
00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:13.009
but you really have to get rid of the other side.
00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:15.429
And I said, well, you know, I ran a battalion
00:12:15.429 --> 00:12:18.110
in a war zone. I think I can pick out my staff.
00:12:18.730 --> 00:12:20.950
If I need any advice, I'll call you. So that
00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:23.710
was the last I heard of anybody. But I think
00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:26.250
because I kept that staff. And you know, half
00:12:26.250 --> 00:12:28.850
our days, half our hours, I could care less as
00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:31.570
long as, you know, they're serving people in
00:12:31.570 --> 00:12:34.389
Pennsylvania. And as long as we're working to
00:12:34.389 --> 00:12:36.110
make Pennsylvania a better place to work, live
00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:38.809
and raise a family, I could care less. And I
00:12:38.809 --> 00:12:42.309
think that's why we had such a fantastic first
00:12:42.309 --> 00:12:44.730
term. So I'll give you a few examples. We've
00:12:44.730 --> 00:12:47.049
returned over a billion dollars in unclaimed
00:12:47.049 --> 00:12:49.779
property to. people in the Commonwealth. So we
00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:54.159
broke the record in fiscal year 22 -23 at $274
00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.200
million. And then the fiscal year that just wrapped
00:12:56.200 --> 00:13:00.600
up June 30th, we returned $289 .5 million. And
00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:04.759
so that's fantastic because this is money that
00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:07.740
most people don't even know they had. And with
00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:11.259
inflation still a little bit high, grocery prices
00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:12.960
still a little bit high, getting a few hundred
00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.480
dollars back to folks can really help. families
00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.340
that might be struggling. So we have two auctions
00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:22.200
a year for unclaimed property, so broke that
00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.580
record in the fall of 24, exceeding $600 ,000.
00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:30.080
Before that, the last record was like $330 ,000.
00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:33.659
I've also returned a record number of military
00:13:33.659 --> 00:13:37.919
decorations, over 517. That includes 13 purple
00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:40.919
hearts, three bronze stars, and a gold star medal.
00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.419
fees for the PA 529 college and career savings
00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:49.000
plan to the tune of over 22 million dollars.
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.279
Our PA able plan that is our plan for people,
00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:56.120
Pennsylvanians with disabilities. We've tripled
00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:58.700
the assets under management and doubled the accounts
00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:01.500
so right now there's 170 million dollars with
00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:06.490
over 11 ,000 accounts and Gosh, we expanded our
00:14:06.490 --> 00:14:09.850
outreach team. When I came to Treasury, they
00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:11.529
really didn't have much outreach, and it was
00:14:11.529 --> 00:14:13.309
all centered out of Harrisburg. So now we have
00:14:13.309 --> 00:14:16.049
people in all four corners of the Commonwealth,
00:14:16.350 --> 00:14:22.110
a couple in Central, and they did 1 ,300 outreach
00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:24.370
events last year. And I think that's another
00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:26.870
reason that we've been able to break a lot of
00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:29.509
records. So it really was just a fantastic year,
00:14:29.610 --> 00:14:31.629
and I'm really blessed to have a wonderful staff.
00:14:32.180 --> 00:14:35.100
And you mentioned unclaimed property. I feel
00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:36.980
like for years, I didn't really fully understand
00:14:36.980 --> 00:14:39.120
what unclaimed property was. Can you talk about
00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.240
what that is exactly and why treasury is the
00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.899
one that holds that? Exactly. So unclaimed property
00:14:46.899 --> 00:14:50.100
can be so many things. It can be a dormant bank
00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.759
account or savings account. It can be an uncashed
00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.519
check, a rebate, an insurance refund, an old
00:14:56.519 --> 00:15:02.139
stock. or bond, and so much more. So financial
00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.860
institutions are required to send this unclaimed
00:15:04.860 --> 00:15:08.100
property to Treasury after three years of dormancy.
00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:11.830
Okay, and so then you know we'll publish things
00:15:11.830 --> 00:15:15.370
in the paper and You know we'll look for the
00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:17.610
owners and try and get it returned But we've
00:15:17.610 --> 00:15:20.970
really you know we've really turned it up a notch
00:15:20.970 --> 00:15:23.690
so when I came to Treasury they weren't doing
00:15:23.690 --> 00:15:26.509
tours tours of the vault and Fun fact we have
00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:29.659
the largest working vault in the entire nation,
00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:33.120
working is the operative word, built in 1939.
00:15:33.659 --> 00:15:37.419
At the time, it cost just under $600 ,000. If
00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:39.500
you adjusted that for inflation today, it would
00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:42.340
be over $13 million to build the vault. About
00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:45.720
400 tons of steel and the front door alone is
00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:50.299
60 tons. So we have $5 billion of unclaimed property.
00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:53.620
And I should also mention that we have tangible
00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:56.899
items. So tangible items are what we get from
00:15:56.899 --> 00:15:59.879
abandoned safe deposit. And so when we get these
00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:02.360
tangible items, we will look for that owner for
00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.940
at least three years. And then after three years,
00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:07.659
because even though we have a huge vault, sometimes
00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:10.799
we can run out of room, we'll do an auction in
00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:13.039
the spring and the fall. So I'll tell you about
00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:14.639
a couple of really cool things that we have in
00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:17.620
the vault right now. So we have autographed guitars
00:16:17.620 --> 00:16:20.620
from Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Rolling Stones,
00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.799
and Guns N' Roses. We have this huge pendant,
00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.279
a big B, and that came from a police evidence
00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:28.000
locker, so I don't... think we'll find the owner.
00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.559
But it has diamonds encrusted all over the front
00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:36.730
of it. So we have some really neat items. Yeah,
00:16:36.750 --> 00:16:39.370
we actually this was a topic on on our podcast
00:16:39.370 --> 00:16:42.149
a couple of episodes ago We had a state representative
00:16:42.149 --> 00:16:45.269
David Rowe come on and he talked about his tour
00:16:45.269 --> 00:16:48.169
of the vault and he mentioned something about
00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:50.970
There's like a chest of like silver gold and
00:16:50.970 --> 00:16:52.649
Damar and I have been wondering where we where
00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:55.549
we misplaced that Yeah, I lost my autographed
00:16:55.549 --> 00:16:57.529
guitars. Actually. I'm glad that we had this
00:16:57.529 --> 00:17:02.629
Yeah, we have a whole steamer trunk of silver
00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.400
And that came from a bank in the Philadelphia
00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:09.400
area. Wow. And we have not been able to find
00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:11.799
that owner. And we've been looking since actually
00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:13.740
the past five years, because I think that's been
00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:16.259
there since I came and haven't been able to find
00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:20.710
the owner. But. The other thing that we get in
00:17:20.710 --> 00:17:23.670
abandoned safe deposit boxes are military decorations.
00:17:24.250 --> 00:17:28.349
And so I say that is what I consider is priceless
00:17:28.349 --> 00:17:30.690
because as a veteran myself, returning those
00:17:30.690 --> 00:17:33.029
to the veteran that earned them or the family
00:17:33.029 --> 00:17:36.230
is really near and dear to my heart because every
00:17:36.230 --> 00:17:39.569
single medal is a piece of somebody's story and
00:17:39.569 --> 00:17:42.650
a symbol of what they sacrificed for all of us.
00:17:43.170 --> 00:17:46.700
And the last Purple Heart we gave back was on
00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:50.000
Purple Heart Day in August, and it was to the
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:52.779
son of a Vietnam veteran who had passed away.
00:17:53.420 --> 00:17:57.759
And he got his Purple Heart. when he was recovering
00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:01.400
in the old Forge hospital. And he was medically
00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:05.279
discharged because of his injuries. So he died
00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:08.759
very young in a house fire. And so he had one
00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:11.920
son. And so we found the son, even though we
00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:13.819
didn't know who the owner of the safe deposit
00:18:13.819 --> 00:18:16.420
box was, his name was engraved on the back of
00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:19.039
the Purple Heart. And so we traced down the son.
00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:23.220
We had a great ceremony. And it was so emotional
00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:26.480
for Jim that he couldn't get through his speech
00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:29.039
without crying. So it was really great to return
00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.920
that medal. Yeah, that's fantastic. I've always
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:33.319
wondered, and this was actually something I was
00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.420
going to ask you later, but how does a military
00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:40.559
medal end up in treasury? How does that process
00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.460
work exactly? So usually it's from abandoned
00:18:44.460 --> 00:18:48.039
safe deposit boxes. And so like I mentioned earlier,
00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:51.880
we've given back 517 since I took office So I've
00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:53.920
really put an emphasis on that but we still have
00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:57.640
about 500 left and these are items that we will
00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:02.779
keep forever. So We just got back civil war shoulder
00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:06.859
boards epithets epaulettes or however you pronounce
00:19:06.859 --> 00:19:12.980
that. We have World War I dog tags. We have a
00:19:12.980 --> 00:19:17.579
K -Bar from a Marine. We still have, I think,
00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:22.500
four Purple Hearts. And we still have a couple
00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:26.480
of Bronze Stars. Wow. We have World War II medals,
00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:30.920
you know, victory medal. So there's a lot of
00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:33.359
interesting things in the vault. Do you have
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:35.640
any advice for Pennsylvanians and how they can
00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:38.460
search for and claim their own unclaimed property?
00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:41.880
It is so easy because we upgraded the system.
00:19:42.180 --> 00:19:44.799
So you can do it right on your phone, even Ryan.
00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:47.920
All you have to do is go to pa treasury dot gov
00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:50.319
slash unclaimed property. A screen will pop up.
00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:53.160
You can pop in your name and you know, don't
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.140
just look for yourself. Look for your family,
00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.579
your friends, any organizations you're part of
00:19:57.579 --> 00:20:01.029
because one out of 10 Pennsylvanians. does have
00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:03.289
unclaimed property. The average claim is roughly
00:20:03.289 --> 00:20:08.190
around $1 ,000. And if it's a simple claim, we
00:20:08.190 --> 00:20:10.470
can fast track it. And if it's fast tracked,
00:20:10.769 --> 00:20:13.150
you'll get your money in less than two weeks.
00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:15.410
If it's a longer, more complicated claim, it
00:20:15.410 --> 00:20:18.289
could take three to four months. But still not
00:20:18.289 --> 00:20:20.650
too bad. I've benchmarked us to other states,
00:20:20.650 --> 00:20:25.329
and we're doing fantastic. And there's a new
00:20:25.329 --> 00:20:29.579
automatic process, right? Because previously
00:20:29.579 --> 00:20:31.599
you had to like go in and like you said search
00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:33.960
your name and everything But isn't there a way
00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.380
now through legislation? I think that was recently
00:20:36.380 --> 00:20:40.720
enacted that speeds up that process Yes for some
00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:43.660
items so Pennsylvania match started as out of
00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:46.579
Senate bill 24 and it passed both the Senate
00:20:46.579 --> 00:20:50.519
and the house Unanimously, how often does that
00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.259
happen? How great is that? So this is a program
00:20:53.259 --> 00:20:56.279
that actually removes red tape from government
00:20:56.490 --> 00:20:59.509
which i think is super cool so i absolutely love
00:20:59.509 --> 00:21:02.329
this program so for the first time ever treasury
00:21:02.329 --> 00:21:05.109
can proactively return unclaimed property up
00:21:05.109 --> 00:21:09.990
to 500 to a single owner and so that means no
00:21:09.990 --> 00:21:14.349
filling out forms um you know no need to go in
00:21:14.349 --> 00:21:16.970
and search so it's fantastic although i still
00:21:16.970 --> 00:21:18.930
tell people you should go in and search because
00:21:19.470 --> 00:21:22.990
If your address changed or if it's more than
00:21:22.990 --> 00:21:26.109
$500, then you still have to claim it the traditional
00:21:26.109 --> 00:21:31.309
way. So since Pennsylvania money match. Was implemented
00:21:31.309 --> 00:21:34.869
which it was just this year The first checks
00:21:34.869 --> 00:21:38.769
we sent out were in January and that was about
00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:41.609
1 .8 million dollars and then we sent a second
00:21:41.609 --> 00:21:44.589
tranche out which was Over 9 million and we're
00:21:44.589 --> 00:21:47.250
just getting ready to send out we sent out 80
00:21:47.250 --> 00:21:50.089
,000 good newsletters Basically letting people
00:21:50.089 --> 00:21:52.049
know. Hey, you've unclaimed property. You're
00:21:52.049 --> 00:21:53.589
going to be getting a check from the Treasury
00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:57.109
in about 30 to 40 days So watch it. This is a
00:21:57.109 --> 00:21:59.210
real program. It's real money. It's your money
00:21:59.210 --> 00:22:01.970
cash the check basically in a nicer way. And
00:22:01.970 --> 00:22:04.609
so we're going to send about $15 million of checks
00:22:04.609 --> 00:22:06.950
out in the next couple of weeks. And then at
00:22:06.950 --> 00:22:08.630
the end of the year, we'll do another time. So
00:22:08.630 --> 00:22:10.529
at the end of this year, we'll probably have
00:22:10.529 --> 00:22:13.930
given back over $40 million through Pennsylvania
00:22:13.930 --> 00:22:18.150
Money Match. Wow. That's amazing. That's great.
00:22:18.630 --> 00:22:20.509
Yeah. Maybe, Ryan, we should include the link
00:22:20.509 --> 00:22:23.109
for the unclean property search in the episode
00:22:23.109 --> 00:22:26.329
notes. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, switching
00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:27.910
gears a little bit, Treasurer, you mentioned
00:22:27.910 --> 00:22:31.410
earlier 529 college savings plans. For any of
00:22:31.410 --> 00:22:34.170
the parents listening, what makes a PA 529 a
00:22:34.170 --> 00:22:36.910
smart choice for saving for their child's education?
00:22:37.950 --> 00:22:41.450
So, this is a wonderful program. So, the PA 529
00:22:41.450 --> 00:22:43.730
college and career savings programs, it helps
00:22:43.730 --> 00:22:46.609
families save for education. And you know what?
00:22:46.630 --> 00:22:48.950
I like to tell people, it's not just for a four
00:22:48.950 --> 00:22:52.109
-year degree. It can be community college, technical
00:22:52.109 --> 00:22:55.950
schools. qualified apprenticeships, even K through
00:22:55.950 --> 00:22:59.309
12 expenses, including tuition at private or
00:22:59.309 --> 00:23:02.990
religious schools. And there are fantastic tax
00:23:02.990 --> 00:23:06.250
benefits for families. So there's tax -free investment
00:23:06.250 --> 00:23:09.250
growth. There's tax -free withdrawals for qualified
00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:12.549
expenses. And for Pennsylvania residents using
00:23:12.549 --> 00:23:16.890
the plan, the benefits are even greater. So contributions
00:23:16.890 --> 00:23:21.210
qualify for state income tax deduction. The assets
00:23:21.210 --> 00:23:24.480
don't impact Pennsylvania financial aid eligibility,
00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:27.000
which is fantastic. And you know what? The assets
00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.339
in a 529 are exempt from Pennsylvania inheritance
00:23:30.339 --> 00:23:32.839
tax. And that's really unique to Pennsylvania.
00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:38.059
So we have $8 .9 billion invested in PA 529 accounts.
00:23:38.519 --> 00:23:41.500
And our program is ranked gold. And there are
00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:44.339
only two gold programs that have been ranked
00:23:44.339 --> 00:23:46.660
gold two consecutive years in the entire nation.
00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:49.900
And I think one of the reasons is because we
00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:53.880
have consistently reduced fees every single year
00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:57.559
to the tune of over $22 million so far. So it's
00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.500
fantastic. It's a great plan. And it's been around
00:24:01.500 --> 00:24:03.619
for three decades. But when you think about it,
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:06.259
every dollar that's saved now is a dollar that
00:24:06.259 --> 00:24:09.519
doesn't have to be borrowed later, just really
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:12.059
helping the next generation have less education
00:24:12.059 --> 00:24:16.299
-related debt. So it's a great program. Yeah,
00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:17.880
and I know I've heard you talk about it before
00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:20.960
and my son was born last February and as soon
00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.119
as he was born I was like I got to do that 529
00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:29.359
program like treasure of charity told me to That
00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:32.900
no Which is a good segue I think into what we
00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:35.180
were gonna ask about next is you know What exactly
00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:37.200
is Keystone scholars because that is on my to
00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.990
-do list still? Good, so Keystone Scholars provides
00:24:40.990 --> 00:24:45.529
$100 starter deposit for every child born or
00:24:45.529 --> 00:24:48.549
adopted in Pennsylvania since January 1st, 2019.
00:24:48.549 --> 00:24:52.690
So it's a jump start on college savings and it's
00:24:52.690 --> 00:24:57.130
fantastic because we are the very first state
00:24:57.130 --> 00:25:01.049
to legislate a universal at birth opt out child
00:25:01.049 --> 00:25:04.170
development account program. And you know, Pennsylvania
00:25:04.170 --> 00:25:06.410
typically isn't first in anything, so we are
00:25:06.410 --> 00:25:10.980
really, really proud about that. So as of August,
00:25:11.400 --> 00:25:15.200
more than 89 ,000 families have registered their
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:17.299
Keystone Scholars accounts. That's fantastic.
00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:20.480
And so families have already saved through Keystone
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.220
Scholars, because they've linked their accounts
00:25:22.220 --> 00:25:27.359
to a PA529, over $157 million. So we know that
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.119
parents like this program. So, Ryan, make sure
00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:32.319
you go out and claim it. I was going to say,
00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.279
sounds like I've got some homework to do after
00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:38.119
this. And the beautiful part about this is there
00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:41.400
are no taxpayer dollars used to fund this program.
00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:47.119
It's for surplus earnings in the 529. Wow. And
00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:50.940
just shifting gears a little bit here, you're
00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:53.460
Pennsylvania's fiscal watchdog as treasurer.
00:25:53.859 --> 00:25:55.660
What is your assessment of the state's current
00:25:55.660 --> 00:25:58.950
economic health? including just some key strengths,
00:25:58.950 --> 00:26:04.049
challenges that you foresee. Yes. So ever since
00:26:04.049 --> 00:26:05.809
I've been the state treasurer, we have run a
00:26:05.809 --> 00:26:09.150
deficit. And people didn't really talk about
00:26:09.150 --> 00:26:11.589
it because we were flush with a lot of federal
00:26:11.589 --> 00:26:15.930
money from COVID, right? So just this fiscal
00:26:15.930 --> 00:26:21.309
year that we ended June 30th, we spent $3 billion
00:26:21.309 --> 00:26:25.269
more than what we brought in. And that is just
00:26:25.269 --> 00:26:29.289
not sustainable. So if you look at the independent
00:26:29.289 --> 00:26:32.289
fiscal offices number, if you looked at what
00:26:32.289 --> 00:26:36.289
the governor submitted, we would be out of our
00:26:36.289 --> 00:26:38.730
surplus at the end of this fiscal year and then
00:26:38.730 --> 00:26:42.029
out of the rainy day fund next fiscal year. So
00:26:42.029 --> 00:26:44.430
we do have some challenges with the structural
00:26:44.430 --> 00:26:51.279
deficit. And the way I think we should address
00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:53.720
it is to unleash the natural gas that we have
00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:55.720
right under our feet. It would create billions
00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.680
of dollars in jobs, billions of dollars in economic
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.440
opportunity for our communities, and give us
00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.779
that little bit of financial breathing room that
00:27:04.779 --> 00:27:06.880
we need. So I know right now we're at a budget
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:09.740
impasse. It sounds like they're kind of getting
00:27:09.740 --> 00:27:13.559
close, which is great. But whatever the number
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:15.740
is, we know that it's going to be billions of
00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:18.299
dollars more than what we bring in. And that's
00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.539
problematic. Gotcha. Yeah, I know that makes
00:27:21.539 --> 00:27:25.160
sense. Well, no, this has been super, super great
00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.420
treasure of charity. We really appreciate you
00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:30.279
coming on to chat with us and hope our listeners
00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:32.619
got a chance to learn a little bit about what
00:27:32.619 --> 00:27:35.519
the treasurer does and your background. And hopefully
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:37.579
there are some other parents out there that now
00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:40.839
can go on and get some of those accounts and
00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:42.980
folks that start looking for unclaimed property.
00:27:43.180 --> 00:27:45.880
But we do always like to end on a fun question.
00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.819
So we like we hear that you enjoy drinking iced
00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:51.799
tea throughout the day. And I have to ask, do
00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:54.660
you have a particular, I see it there, do you
00:27:54.660 --> 00:27:58.339
have a particular like brand of iced tea that's
00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:00.359
a go -to for you? Because I know Pennsylvania
00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:03.160
is kind of like geographically divided based
00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:06.819
on like different I guess brands. Right, so it's
00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:09.799
not Wawa or Sheetz. I actually usually go through
00:28:09.799 --> 00:28:12.500
the McDonald's drive -thru and get an iced tea.
00:28:13.859 --> 00:28:17.099
It's not to plug McDonald's, but it's the cheapest.
00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.579
That's fair. It's easily accessible anywhere.
00:28:21.779 --> 00:28:24.279
You can get it anywhere. Exactly. Exactly. Because
00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:28.420
you travel all 67 counties. I do. How many McDonald's
00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:31.480
have you been to? Now that's... Well, we were
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:32.920
trying to figure out how many sheets I've been
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:35.640
to. I think I've been to the majority of sheets
00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:39.680
throughout the Commonwealth. I believe it. Well,
00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:41.259
this has been great, Treasure. Thanks so much.
00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:42.759
We appreciate it. Thank you, Treasure. Thanks,
00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:46.299
Ryan. And that concludes another episode of the
00:28:46.299 --> 00:28:48.720
Back in Session Podcast. Really enjoyed having
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:51.140
Treasurer Garrity come on, chat a little bit
00:28:51.140 --> 00:28:53.579
about her background and what the Treasurer does.
00:28:54.680 --> 00:28:56.279
It's always fascinating to hear about some of
00:28:56.279 --> 00:28:58.500
these programs that I feel like a lot of Pennsylvanians
00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:01.619
don't know about. So hopefully, those of you
00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:04.420
who are listening, now you have some of your
00:29:04.420 --> 00:29:07.900
own homework to do. Go check out Unclaimed Property.
00:29:08.619 --> 00:29:10.799
Yeah, and if you're a parent, your kid doesn't
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:14.779
have a 529 or a Keystone Scholars account. What
00:29:14.779 --> 00:29:17.180
are you waiting for? Ryan, I'm going to yes.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.200
Yeah, right. I'm going to check up on you next
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.059
week to make sure you did it. Yeah, you're going
00:29:21.059 --> 00:29:22.960
to have to. You're asking everybody else what
00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:24.779
they're waiting for. What are you waiting for?
00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:28.500
I'm waiting for college football tonight, tomorrow,
00:29:28.579 --> 00:29:31.859
Saturday, Sunday, five straight days of college
00:29:31.859 --> 00:29:34.539
football. So don't expect to hear from you is
00:29:34.539 --> 00:29:36.660
what you're telling me. Yeah. About anything
00:29:36.660 --> 00:29:39.599
productive, at least. Yeah. Peace out. Yeah,
00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:43.759
that's fine. I'm out now. I'm here. You need
00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:45.480
anything, right? And I'm always here. Oh, yeah.
00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:48.720
When you're not screening my phone calls. Yeah,
00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.660
I only do that 50 percent of the time. So probably
00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:57.960
less than most, actually. So I'll take it. Any
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:00.539
any any further news? I know we kind of broke
00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:04.400
it on the last the last podcast. So I don't think
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:06.819
any I don't think any superstar engagements.
00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:09.880
No more. No more. Not that I know of. That was
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:13.380
it for the week. That was it. Yeah. Well. I guess
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:16.480
your household was pretty happy about it. Oh,
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:19.440
very happy, yeah. I've heard about it for three
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:23.420
days. I actually was on a work call after we
00:30:23.420 --> 00:30:26.579
recorded our podcast. I was on a Zoom and my
00:30:26.579 --> 00:30:30.839
wife comes by and she's freaking out and she
00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:34.819
passes me a note. Like I'm like she passes you
00:30:34.819 --> 00:30:37.000
a note. She passed me a note and I ignored it
00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:39.420
because I'm like we're wrapping up the zoom that
00:30:39.420 --> 00:30:42.019
we were on and it was I forget what zoom it was
00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:44.579
if it was a client or a potential client. She
00:30:44.579 --> 00:30:47.940
knows you have a laptop, right? Yeah, she but
00:30:47.940 --> 00:30:50.000
it's but it's like it's an important meeting,
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:51.819
you know, so I'm like but it's wrapping up. So
00:30:51.819 --> 00:30:53.880
I'm like, I'm not going to like look distracted
00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:55.799
while we're like saying our goodbyes and everything.
00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:58.880
So I was saying so I ignored my wife. I said
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.039
goodbye. You know, thank you for your time hung
00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:02.940
up. And she's like, you didn't read my note.
00:31:03.099 --> 00:31:05.759
And I was like, what note? Like this note? She's
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:07.960
like, yeah. So I open it up and it says Travis
00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:10.640
and Taylor are engaged. And I was like, Amanda,
00:31:10.700 --> 00:31:13.299
I know this. You're like, Tamara broke this news
00:31:13.299 --> 00:31:16.440
an hour ago. I said, Tamara told me and I've
00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.559
already texted you like five memes about it.
00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:22.140
So she just doesn't read your messages. Yeah,
00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:24.920
like Amanda. Yeah, clearly, clearly. You think
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:31.019
I ignore you? So, yeah, well, I have to. I'll
00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:32.420
have to talk to Amanda about that. We'll have
00:31:32.420 --> 00:31:34.460
to form a support group. Yeah, there you go.
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.500
There you go. So but until next time when we
00:31:37.500 --> 00:31:39.960
will be back in session.
