Assessment And Special Tax Bonds and Land Secured Financing

Infrastructure finance has always been, and continues to be, at the core of Orrick's public finance practice. Our Special Tax and Assessment Financing Group focuses on infrastructure financing techniques that primarily use land-secured revenues (i.e. assessments or special taxes levied on benefited property) to pay for public improvements. The principal financing techniques used in infrastructure finance are:

• Special Assessment Bonds
• Mello-Roos/Community Facilities District ("CFD") Special Tax Bonds
• Joint Powers Authority Financings
• Integrated Financing Districts
• Charter City Proceedings
• Marks-Roos Pooled Financings

Comprised of 30 attorneys in our California and New York offices, our Special Tax and Assessment Financing Group has worked on more than 500 financings for cities, counties, school districts, joint powers authorities and other special districts in California, Nevada and Hawaii aggregating more tha $8.6 billion in principal amount of bonds since 1985. Among those issuers whom Orrick has recently served or is serving are the following:

• Cities of Angels, Antioch, Bakersfield, Banning, Barstow, Belmont, Brentwood, Camarillo, Davis, Emeryville, Folsom, Fresno, Galt, Hawthorne, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Larkspur, Lincoln, Merced, Modesto, Novato, Oroville, Pinole, Pismo Beach, Pittsburg, Pleasanton, Rancho Mirage, Rancho Murieta, Redding, Reno (NV), Tracy, Richmond, Ridgecrest, Ripon, Riverbank, Rocklin, Roseville, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Jose, San Leandro, San Rafael, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Saratoga, Sonora, Sparks (NV), Tiburon, Waterford, Victorville
• Counties of Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Marin, Merced, Napa, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Sonoma, Sutter
• Hawaii Community Development Authority, Salida Area Public Facilities Financing Authority
• Antioch Unified School District, Auburn Union School District, Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District, Elk Grove Unified School District, Empire Union School District, Irvine Unified School District, Lincoln Unified School District, Manteca Unified School District, Modesto City Schools, Mt. Diablo Unified School District, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Tracy Public Schools, Turlock School Districts, Tustin Unified School District, Temecula Valley Unified School District, Waugh School District
• Calaveras County Water District, Camarillo Sanitary District, Cambria Community Services District, Centerville Community Services District, El Dorado Hills Community Services District, Fresno Metropolitan Flood Control District, Gravely Ford Water District, Indian Wells Water District, Marin County Open Space District, Marin Municipal Water District, Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency, Semitropic Water Storage District, Shasta Dam Area Public Utility District, United Water Conservation District

We have been involved in various projects financed with special assessments, Mello-Roos or Marks-Roos bonds such as:

• streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters
• landscaping, lighting and utility undergrounding
• school sites and facilities, including portable classrooms
• infrastructure for shopping centers, business parks and industrial parks
• public parking
• bridges and highway interchanges
• storm drainage
• wastewater collection systems, treatment and disposal facilities
• water supply, storage, treatment and distribution facilities
• parks and recreation facilities, including acquisition of open space
• light rail
• seismic safety improvements
• flood control improvements
• wetlands replacement and protection
• freeway interchanges

Orrick published one of the first comprehensive guides on Mello-Roos finance in 1988. The Public Official's Guide to Mello-Roos Financing, which has been widely disseminated and used in a variety of training courses in Mello-Roos financing. More recently, we published an updated version of the Guide, An Introduction to the California Mello-Roose Community Facilities Districts.

Orrick has been active in drafting legislation effecting many of the improvements in the special assessment and Mello-Roos laws

Orrick has also been active in working with clients to avoid, cure or work out defaults and SEC investigations in connection with special assessment and Mello-Roos bonds.