California

Decision instrument

State debt over $300,000 needs a law for one stated object, a way to pay it within 50 years without borrowing again, two-thirds of each house, and a majority of the votes.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? California Constitution, Article XVI, Section 1. The way to pay the interest as it falls due, and the principal within 50 years, has to be exclusive of further loans. That law cannot be repealed until both are paid, unless no debt has been contracted. Money raised may be used only for the stated object or to pay that debt. War, an invasion, or an insurrection is the exception.

Debt statement

No Annual Debt Statement of the New Jersey kind.

What yearly filing states gross debt, deductions, and how close the issuer is to its limit? State debt is in the annual report for the year ended June 30, 2025. The Treasurer’s outstanding-debt table, printed in the September 2026 official statement, is a second cut. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county, city, or school district may not borrow more than that year’s income unless two-thirds of the voters assent. School-facility bonds can pass at 55%.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article XVI, Section 18. Before or when the debt is incurred, an annual tax has to cover the interest and a sinking fund for the principal. Maturity may not exceed 40 years. Bonds to repair a school building found structurally unsafe need a majority, not two-thirds. Bonds to build, rebuild, or equip a school, or to buy the land, need 55% of the votes if the proposition meets the accountability rules. There is no percent-of-value cap in that section.

Conflict rule

A legislator, and a state, county, district, or city officer or employee, may not be financially interested in a contract that person makes, or that the person’s board makes.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Government Code § 1090. The same bar covers buying at a sale, or selling at a purchase, that the officer makes in an official capacity. A remote interest is outside the bar if it is written in the official records and the body approves the contract without counting that officer’s vote. If the officer tries to influence the others, that exception does not apply. A contract made in violation may be avoided by any party except the interested officer. The suit has to start within four years of discovery. The statute does not say the contract is void on its own.

Geography

Fifty-eight counties. San Francisco is a city and a county.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 06001 through 06115. Cities, school districts, and special districts also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bond principal: $72.771 billion. The payable, with premium, is $80.246 billion.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, June 30, 2025. The statistical schedule’s principal is $72,771,230,000. Of that, $71,872,170,000 is governmental and $899,060,000 is the veterans’ farm and home program. Unamortized premium is $7,475,223,000. Principal plus premium is $80,246,453,000. The report’s sentence rounds that payable to $80.3 billion and says those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the State. The current portion of that payable is $4.2 billion. The long-term portion is $76.1 billion.

Who pays the coupon

The General Fund pays the bonds that are not reimbursed by a program. A program that is supposed to pay its own way does not cancel that pledge.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? The Treasurer’s table calls $71.872 billion non-self-liquidating, meaning the General Fund pays it without reimbursement. The $899 million veterans’ bonds are expected to be paid, or the General Fund reimbursed, from program revenue. If that revenue fails, the General Fund still pays. In the year ended June 30, 2025, debt service on the non-self-liquidating bonds was $7.020 billion. In the year ended June 30, 2026, it was $7.129 billion. Those figures are principal and interest together. They are not a split, and they are not added to the $72.771 billion.

Other obligors

Revenue bonds: $32.3 billion. Do not add them to the $72.771 billion.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? The annual report says total bonded debt was $112.6 billion. The $32.3 billion is the part secured only by specified revenues. Its current portion is $1.5 billion. Lease-revenue debt on the Treasurer’s table was $8.902 billion at June 30, 2025. That line is not the whole $32.3 billion, and the two are not added. The Treasurer’s total of general-obligation principal plus lease-revenue debt, $81.673 billion, is a different cut from the report’s $112.6 billion.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? The September 2026 various-purpose bond statement is book-entry. Series-level confirmation of the older issues still waits on each official statement. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.