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Bills

AB 905: State general obligation bonds: disclosure requirements.

  • Session Year: 2025-2026
  • House: Assembly

Current Status:

In Progress

(2025-05-23: In committee: Held under submission.)

Introduced

First Committee Review

First Chamber

Second Committee Review

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:
Existing law authorizes the governing body of a public body to authorize the issuance of bonds pursuant to a resolution, indenture, agreement, or other instrument providing for the issuance of bonds. Existing law defines a public body to mean, among other entities, a county, city, or city and county. Existing law requires a governing body of a public body, prior to the issuance of certain bonds with a term of greater than 13 months, to obtain and disclose specified information regarding the bonds in a meeting open to the public. Existing law requires the information to be obtained as a good faith estimate from an underwriter, financial advisor, or private lender or from a third-party borrower, as specified, if the public body issuing bonds is a conduit financing provider, as defined.

Existing law, the State General Obligation Bond Law, generally sets forth the procedures for the issuance and sale of bonds governed by its provisions and for the disbursal of the proceeds of the sale of those bonds. Existing law requires any state bond measure approved on or after January 1, 2004, to be subject to an annual reporting process, with the head of the lead state agency administering the bond proceeds reporting certain information about the projects being funded to the Legislature and the Department of Finance. Existing law allows this information to be provided on the agencys internet website or the states open data portal under certain circumstances.

This bill would require the governing body of a public body, for general obligation bonds a bond act for any state general obligation bond measure that is approved by voters on and after January 1, 2026, to develop and publicly disclose, within 90 days after approval by the voters, to include specified information about the objectives of the bond expenditure and related data. The bill would also require the public body head of the lead state agency administering the bond to post on its internet website a notification that contains, among other information, details about the programs and projects authorized to be funded by the bond. The bill would also further require each public body state agency subject to these provisions to provide a written report to the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst, and specified legislative committees that contains certain information regarding the general obligation bond, including bond, in accordance with the above-described provision allowing this information to be provided on the agencys internet website or the states online data portal. The bill would require the report to include, among other information, whether the project, grant, or other expenditure of bond proceeds has been done in a timely manner. By imposing new duties upon local public agencies with respect to the requirements described above, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

News Coverage:

AB 905: State general obligation bonds: disclosure requirements. | Digital Democracy