State of California Bonds – $2.1 Billion General Obligation Bonds

Apr 9, 2018 | Municipal Bonds, Municipal Finance

Featured Municipal Bond Issue, Week of April 9th, 2018: State of California – $2.1 Billion

The State of California is issuing $2.1 billion in general obligation bonds the week of April 9th, 2018. The bonds consist of $947 million in various purpose general obligation bonds, and $1.2 billion in general obligation refunding bonds. Security for the bonds is a general obligation pledge of the full faith and credit of the State. Principal and interest are payable from any moneys from the State’s General Fund, with the only exception being the prior application of funds for the public school system and public higher-education institutions. Refunding bonds will refund previously issued general obligation bonds issued in 2009, while the various purpose proceeds are to be used on projects authorized under bond acts to promote stem cell research, for housing and emergency shelter, for K-12 public education facilities, high-speed rail projects, and more.

Interest on the bonds is considered exempt from State of California income taxes, but taxable for federal income tax purposes. Details on the purposes, tax-status, security, as well as other matters pertaining to these State of California bonds can be found in the preliminary official statement, available on MuniOS.



As of February 2018, the State of California has an unemployment rate of 4.5%, which is 0.4% higher than the U.S. rate for February, and 0.9% lower than the same time in 2017. More California employment data can be found here, and similar information is available on every state and metro area in the U.S. in our Employment Database.

california bonds

California Bonds

Provided at left (click to expand) is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the State of California as of 06/30/2017, compared with the 2016-2017 medians for other U.S. states, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database.

These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.

by Jeffrey L Garceau