Bond issue

From Ballotpedia

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A bond issue as it applies to ballots is when a state government, or a local unit of government (city, county, school district) places a question before the voters as a ballot measure, asking them to approve or deny additional proposed spending. School districts and municipalities often make most use of bond election authority.

State legislatures or local units of government may place such a question before the voters in their political jurisdiction because of laws that prevent the unit of government from raising taxes or spending beyond a certain level without the approval of voters.

Other types of ballot measures

Other types of ballot measures that appear in multiple states are:

Advisory question Automatic ballot referral Bond issue combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute

commission referral indirect initiated constitutional amendment indirect initiated state statute initiated constitutional amendment

initiated state statute legislatively-referred constitutional amendment legislatively-referred state statute Veto referendum

Some related terms:

ballot measure Constitutional convention

Indirect initiative Legislative referral

Bond issues on the ballot

Bonds in financial markets

In finance, a bond is a debt in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest at a later date, termed maturity. Other stipulations may also be attached to the bond issue, such as the obligation for the issuer to provide certain information to the bond holder, or limitations on the behavior of the issuer. Bonds are generally issued for a fixed term longer than ten years. U.S Treasury securities issue debt with life of ten years or more, which is a bond. New debt between one year and ten years is a "note", and new debt less than a year is a "bill".

A bond is simply a loan, but in the form of a security. In the case of a bond issued by a unit of government, the unit of government receives a loan from a private lender that is secured by the unit of government's assets, including its ongoing ability to generate income through taxation.

The unit of government then owes principal and interest on that loan to the private lender, and the taxpayers whose taxes support that unit of government are correspondingly obliged to pay taxes to support the repayment of the loan.

Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the difference is that stock holders own a part of the issuing company, whereas bond holders are in essence lenders to the issuer. Also bonds usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which the bond is redeemed whereas stocks may be outstanding indefinitely.

Government issuance of bonds

School bonds & taxes
Bond elections
2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 All years and states
Property tax elections
2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 All years and states
How voting works
State comparisons

The range of issuers of bonds is very large. Almost any organization could issue bonds, but the underwriting and legal costs can be prohibitive. Regulations to issue bonds are very strict. Government issuers of bonds can be classified as follows:

• Municipalities, meaning state or local authorities. In the U.S. state and local government bonds are known as municipal bonds.
• Public school districts.

Issuing bonds

Bonds are issued by public authorities, credit institutions, companies and supranational institutions in the primary markets. The most common process of issuing bonds is through underwriting. In underwriting, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy an entire issue of bonds from an issuer and re-sell them to investors. Government bonds are typically auctioned.

See also

• Ballot measure
• Legislative referral

External links

• Wikipedia article on bonds

v • d • e Types of ballot measures General terms Initiated state statute • Initiated constitutional amendment • Indirect initiated state statute • Indirect initiative amendment • Indirect initiative • Legislative referral • Legislatively-referred state statute • Legislatively-referred constitutional amendment • Commission referral • Automatic ballot referral • Veto referendum • Constitutional convention • Bond issue • Recall • Advisory question State-specific terms Ballot question (Colorado) • Bond Propositions (California) • Initiatives to the Legislature (Washington) • Initiatives to the People (Washington) • Referendum (Colorado) • Legislative Referendum (Michigan) • Referendum Bill (Washington) • Statute affirmation (Nevada) • Referendum Election (Navajo Nation) Local terms City council ballot referral • Initiated city charter amendment • Initiated city ordinance • Grand jury • Redevelopment and Housing Authority Referendum (Virginia) • Reverse referendum (Minnesota) • Tax rate recall referendum (Kentucky)