California local governments will have a wider array of financing options for issuing general obligation bonds as a result of legislation signed late last week by Gov. Pete Wilson.
Senate Bill 872, authored by state Sen. Quentin L. Kopp, I-San Francisco, allows localities to issue zero coupon bonds, variable-rate bonds, and detachable call options. The bill updated archaic Portions of a 1902 California GO bond statute that prevented local governments from using newer financing methods.
Laura Wagner-Lockwood, a deputy fiscal officer for San Francisco who asked Kopp to author the bill, said the city expects to use the modified statute to help whittle down a $746 million backlog of voter-approved, but unsold, GO bonds.
The legislation does not alter a state constitutional requirement that GO bond issues receive approval by a two-thirds vote of the electorate.
